Smokey Robinson's lawyer says rape allegations against him 'vile and false'
8 May 2025, 09:53
Smokey Robinson's lawyer has said allegations of rape and sexual assault against him in a lawsuit from four former housekeepers are "vile" and "false".
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Lawyer Christopher Frost said in a statement that the evidence "will show that this is simply an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon".
The suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday against the Motown singer seeks at least 50 million dollars in damages over the alleged assaults, which the women say took place between 2007 and 2024.
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Robinson's wife, Frances Robinson, is also named as a defendant for allegedly enabling his behaviour and creating an abusive work environment.
"We will be addressing the numerous aspects of the complaint that defy credulity as well as issues relating to purported timelines, inconsistencies, and relationships between the plaintiffs and others," Mr Frost's statement said.
The four women each allege that Robinson would wait until he was alone with them in his Los Angeles house and then sexually assault and rape them over their objections, in some cases for many years.
"We believe that Mr Robinson is a serial and sick rapist, and must be stopped," the women's lawyer, John Harris, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Mr Frost called the news conference "bizarre theatrics", and an attempt to "enlist the public as an unwitting participant in the media circus they are trying to create".
He added: "We ask anyone following this case to reserve judgment as the evidence comes to light and all the actual facts of the case unfold."
Robinson, a member of both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was among the biggest hitmakers of the 1960s as a central part of the Motown Records machine - both with his group the Miracles and as a solo artist, with songs including Tears Of A Clown and The Tracks Of My Tears.
