NOTE: The following article comprises disturbing particulars of sexual assault. Please learn at your personal discretion.
Music legend Smokey Robinson is suing 4 of his former workers for defamation after they filed a lawsuit in opposition to the singer in early May accusing him of sexual assault and rape.
Robinson and his spouse, Frances Gladney, countersued the group of housekeepers in Los Angeles on Wednesday, accusing the ladies of false claims of sexual assault as a part of an “extortionate” lawsuit.
The Motown legend’s accusers say they had been afraid to come back ahead till now over fears of shedding their livelihoods and immigration standing — all 4 plaintiffs are immigrants of Hispanic descent.
Smokey Robinson and Frances Gladney attend the 66th Grammy Awards Pre-Grammy gala in Los Angeles.
Amy Sussman / Getty Images
The accusers, who filed their nameless swimsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, are looking for not less than US$50 million in damages. The ladies say they skilled abuse between 2007 and 2024, and labour violations together with a hostile work setting, illegally lengthy hours and lack of pay.
The singer has denied the allegations and is at present below investigation for sexual assault. His legal professionals argue that the complainants are after his cash.
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The couple claims that the ladies accompanied them on household holidays and celebrated holidays collectively.
“The Robinsons did not abuse, harm, or take advantage of plaintiffs; they treated plaintiffs with the utmost kindness and generosity,” their lawsuit states.
Robinson’s legal professionals have additionally filed a movement to dismiss the accusers’ lawsuit on the idea that they need to not have been granted anonymity.
The accusers filed on May 6 as Jane Doe 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The prolonged authorized doc refers to not less than 50 separate alleged incidents of rape, courting again virtually twenty years, the place Robinson is accused of forcing his former workers into intercourse.
American singer Smokey Robinson performs onstage on the Holiday Star Theater, Merrillville, Ind., July 28, 1982.
Paul Natkin / Getty Images
Jane Doe 1, who was employed in January 2023, claimed she was left with no alternative however to resign in February 2024 after experiencing quite a few assaults.
According to the submitting, she would work by herself on the household residence on weekends. On Saturdays, Robinson would take his spouse to the nail salon after which rush residence to be alone with Jane Doe 1.
“Upon returning home, Defendant Smokey Robinson would call her into his blue bedroom, lock the door and escort their dog Shilo out of the room. He will have showered and clothed only in his underwear. He would then neatly place a white towel on his bed, not to soil the bed linens, in preparation for what was about to occur,” the lawsuit states, including that he would “roughly penetrate” her, inflicting “great pain.”
The plaintiff says she protested and tried to flee his assaults, to no avail. According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe 1 was assaulted in such a fashion not less than seven occasions.
Similarly, Jane Doe 2 resigned from her place in 2020, following years of alleged assaults that she says began in 2016.
The submitting says Robinson started summoning her through textual content message to areas of his residence not below safety digital camera surveillance, together with the storage, the laundry room and his blue bed room, the place he would pressure himself upon her and rape her, allegedly on 23 events.
If Jane Doe 2 protested, Robinson would threaten her, saying he would get his spouse to “be mean” to her, the submitting states, including that his spouse had information of the abuse and didn’t act.
Jane Doe 3, who labored for the Robinsons for 12 years from 2012 till 2024, when she resigned, claims to have been sexually assaulted by the musician for nearly the whole lot of her tenure. On one event, he supplied her $500 in change for oral intercourse, a proposition she says she refused, in line with courtroom paperwork. She claims to have been raped by Robinson not less than 20 occasions.
Jane Doe 4 says she was pressured to resign in 2024, having labored for the household since 2006, resulting from repeated sexual assaults by Robinson, together with rape and every day harassment.
Robinson, a member of each the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was among the many largest hitmakers of the Sixties, each together with his group the Miracles and as a solo artist, with songs together with Tears of a Clown and The Tracks of My Tears.
He was a central a part of the Motown Records music machine in his hometown of Detroit as an artist, producer and songwriter for different artists.
— With information from The Associated Press
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