Through his attorney, Smokey Robinson is denying the accusations of sexual assault against him by four former employees in a lawsuit filed this week. The Motown icon’s attorney also called the lawsuit an attempt “to extract money” from Robinson.
“As this case progresses, the evidence (the crucial element that guides us) will show that this is simply an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon — $50 million, to be exact,” Christopher Frost said in a statement Wednesday.
“Through this process we have seen the bizarre theatrics of yesterday’s news conference, as the plaintiffs’ attorneys outlined vile, false allegations against Mr. and Mrs. Robinson, trying to enlist the public as an unwitting participant in the media circus they are trying to create,” Frost said also.
Four former employees accused Robinson, the storied songwriter and former record label executive, of sexual battery, assault, fostering a hostile work environment, false imprisonment and gender violence in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Monday. Robinson’s wife, Frances Gladney, was also named as a defendant.
The 27-page suit names each of the plaintiffs as Jane Does. The first states she started working for the Robinsons as their housekeeper at their Chatsworth home from Jan. 3, 2023 to February 2024, and during that time JD1 says she was forced to resign after Smokey’s repeated sexual assaults and sexual harassment against her, saying the first incident took place on March 2023 and it continued until she was forced to step out of her role last February.
The women accuse Frances of “perpetuating a hostile work environment,” which included failing to take appropriate corrective actions to prevent Robinson’s behavior, mentioning that she was aware of Robinson’s previous sexual misconduct. They also accuse her of “regularly screaming” in a hostile manner, with all four women saying Frances used “ethnically pejorative words and language.”
The plaintiffs are demanding a sum of no less than $50,000,000 in damages and a trial by jury.
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