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Music|Smokey Robinson’s Victory Lap Upended by Allegations of Sexual Assault
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/arts/music/smokey-robinson-sexual-assault.html
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The Motown legend, 85, was touring to support a new album when he was sued and accused of sexually assaulting four women who had worked as housekeepers for him.
May 7, 2025, 7:00 p.m. ET
At 85, the Motown legend Smokey Robinson was on something of a celebratory tour. With a new album to promote, he shared the stage with Bruce Springsteen last month, performed last week on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and was in the midst of playing a series of live dates in the United States and the United Kingdom.
“I feel wonderful,” he told Entertainment Tonight in a recent interview. “I pray every night before we go on that we can be entertaining and uplifting to the people who are there.”
But on Tuesday, Mr. Robinson’s victory lap was upended when four women who had worked as housekeepers for him filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault, claiming in the suit that he abused them dozens of times over many years.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles, identifies the women only as Jane Does 1 through 4. They each accuse Mr. Robinson of raping them repeatedly while they were employed cleaning his home in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, as well as in his other homes in Ventura County, Calif., and Las Vegas.
Multiple attempts to reach Mr. Robinson and his lawyers and representatives were unsuccessful on Wednesday. The Daily Mail said it had reached Mr. Robinson by telephone and reported that he had said, “I am appalled.”
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