Smokey Robinson counter-sues against rape allegations
Smokey Robinson and his wife Frances at a pre-Grammy gala in Beverly Hills, California, in 2023. File photo: AFP
American singer Smokey Robinson has filed a defamation lawsuit against four former housekeepers who accused him of rape and prompted a police investigation.
Robinson and his wife, Frances Robinson, filed the counterclaim on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the women and their lawyers, whose allegations, they say, were 'fabricated in an extortionate scheme'.
The filing is a fast and forceful legal and public pushback from the 85-year-old Motown music luminary in response to the women's May 6 lawsuit and a May 15 announcement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department that its special victims bureau is 'actively investigating criminal allegations' against Robinson.
The Robinsons also filed a motion to strike the women's lawsuit.
The women are seeking at least US$50 million, alleging Smokey Robinson repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted them in his home when they worked for him between 2007 and 2024.
They said Frances Robinson, a co-defendant, enabled him and created an abusive workplace.
The counterclaim opens with friendly text messages from the women to contradict their claims against Robinson, whose songs, including 'Tears of a Clown' and 'The Tracks of My Tears," established him among the biggest hitmakers of the 1960s.
The filing says the women 'stayed with the Robinsons year after year,' vacationed with them, celebrated holidays with them, exchanged gifts with them, asked for tickets to his concerts, and sought and received help from them, including money for dental surgery, financial support for a disabled family member and 'even a car'.
The filing - which includes photos from the vacations and gatherings as exhibits – says that despite the couple's generosity, the women 'secretly harboured resentment for the Robinsons and sought to enrich themselves through the Robinsons' wealth'.
John Harris and Herbert Hayden, attorneys for the former housekeepers, said the defamation lawsuit 'is nothing more than an attempt to silence and intimidate the survivors of Mr Robinson's sexual battery and assault. It is a baseless and vindictive legal manoeuvre designed to re-victimise, shift blame and discourage others from coming forward'.
The lawyers said they intend to get the Robinsons' lawsuit thrown out by invoking California's laws against using the courts to silence and intimidate people who sue.
The four women, whose names are withheld in their lawsuit, each allege that Robinson would wait until they were alone with him in his Los Angeles house and then sexually assault and rape them.
One woman said she was assaulted at least 20 times while working for Robinson from 2012 until 2024. Another said she worked for him from 2014 until 2020 and was assaulted at least 23 times. (AP)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
HKFP
13 hours ago
- HKFP
Attacker wounds Japanese national in China with rock, Tokyo embassy says
An 'unknown assailant' attacked and wounded a Japanese national accompanied by a child in the Chinese city of Suzhou, Tokyo's embassy said Friday, calling on Beijing to prevent such incidents. The incident comes a year after a Japanese mother and child were wounded in a knife attack in the same city. A Chinese woman had died trying to stop the assailant. In Thursday's attack, 'a Japanese national walking with a child was struck by what appeared to be a rock by an unknown assailant inside a Suzhou, Jiangsu Province subway station', Tokyo's embassy in Beijing told AFP in a statement. A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry told AFP that 'the suspect has been apprehended'. The victim was 'promptly taken to hospital for treatment, and there is no threat to life', the ministry said. China and Japan are key trading partners, but increased friction over territorial rivalries and military spending has frayed ties in recent years. Japan's brutal occupation of parts of China before and during World War II remains a sore point, with Beijing accusing Tokyo of failing to atone for its past. In June last year, a Japanese mother and child were attacked in Suzhou on the anniversary of the 1931 'Mukden incident', known in China as a day of national humiliation. The 1931 explosion of a railway in China was used by Japanese soldiers as a pretext to occupy the city of Mukden, now called Shenyang, and invade the wider region of Manchuria. And in September, a Japanese schoolboy was fatally stabbed in the southern city of Shenzhen. Media reports about the latest attack in Suzhou were censored on the Chinese messaging app WeChat. 'The Japanese government has urged the Chinese government to… severely punish the suspect, prevent similar incidents, and ensure the safety of Japanese nationals', Tokyo's embassy said Friday. Beijing's foreign ministry said 'China will continue to take effective steps, to protect the safety of foreigners in China'.
RTHK
19 hours ago
- RTHK
Yoon gets down and dirty to stymie interrogation
Yoon gets down and dirty to stymie interrogation Yoon Suk-yeol is said to have refused arrest by 'lying on the floor without wearing his prison-issued clothing'. File photo: Reuters South Korea's impeached former president Yoon Suk-yeol lay on his prison cell floor in his underwear to resist attempts to interrogate him, prosecutors said on Friday. Prosecutors obtained a fresh arrest warrant on Thursday to forcibly bring the former leader in for questioning over allegations of election tampering. However, they were "unable to do so due to his strong refusal", prosecutor Oh Jeong-hee said. "The suspect refused arrest while lying on the floor without wearing his prison-issued clothing," she said. "Due to concerns over safety incidents, physical force was withheld, and the execution of the warrant was temporarily suspended." Yoon was wearing "a sleeveless top and prison-issued briefs," prosecutors said, calling it the "most appropriate way" to describe his attire given the "serious nature of the situation". Prosecutors informed Yoon they would have to carry out physical force if necessary in the next attempt. Yoon was arrested after he tried to impose martial law on December 3, sending troops to parliament to prevent lawmakers from voting down his declaration and plunging the country into political turmoil. He faces a litany of charges, from insurrection to election tampering, but has refused multiple times to appear at his summons. Yoon's legal team said the prosecutors had shown a "disturbing disregard" for "basic human decency". "The special counsel turned what should have been a press briefing into a stage for personal humiliation," Yoon's lawyer Yoo Jeong-hwa said. "What kind of legal institution in a civilised country gives a real-time report and commentary to journalists on a detainee's clothing, especially in a cramped cell nearing 40 degrees [Celsius]?" Yoon's lawyers said the former president suffers from "several underlying conditions that pose significant challenges to maintaining his health", making it difficult for him to fully cooperate with the investigation. South Korea's justice minister told a parliamentary hearing that it was "frankly embarrassing for a former president to behave that way". "He had been wearing a short-sleeved top and trousers, but reportedly removed his prison uniform when the special counsel team attempted to enforce the arrest warrant, only to put it back on immediately after they left," Jung Sung-ho said. "We will ensure he is treated with appropriate dignity, without raising any suspicion of preferential treatment, in light of his former position," he added. (AFP)
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
US and allies accuse Iran of covert overseas ‘kill, kidnap' policy
The US and more than a dozen of its allies on Thursday accused Iran of attempting to kill or kidnap people in Western countries, including dissidents, journalists and officials. 'We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty,' the countries said in a joint statement. The governments – of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US – called on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop such illegal activities. 'These services are increasingly collaborating with international criminal organisations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials in Europe and North America. This is unacceptable,' the statement said. Iran's embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 01:47 Brics leaders condemn strikes on Iran and tariffs but avoid direct mention of US, Israel Brics leaders condemn strikes on Iran and tariffs but avoid direct mention of US, Israel Earlier in July it dismissed a report by UK lawmakers which said Tehran posed a significant and wide-ranging threat to Britain as unfounded, defamatory and dangerous.
