Smokey Robinson denies four housekeepers' allegations of sexual assault

The Guardian

08-05-2025

Smokey Robinson has denied allegations of sexual assault, after four former housekeepers of the Motown star filed a lawsuit with claims including sexual battery, false imprisonment, negligence and gender violence.
The suit was filed in a Los Angeles court on 6 May. It also alleges a series of labour violations, including that Robinson and his wife, Frances, failed to pay the women minimum wage and overtime, submitted inaccurate wage statements and created a hostile work environment. The women are seeking financial damages.
Robinson's lawyer Christopher Frost has responded to the lawsuit, saying that 'the evidence … will show that this is simply an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon – $50m, to be exact.'
He called the allegations against Robinson and his wife 'vile, false', adding that they 'defy credulity' and contain 'issues relating to purported timelines, inconsistencies and relationships between the plaintiffs and others'.
Frost accused the plaintiffs' legal team of 'bizarre theatrics' and of 'trying to enlist the public as an unwitting participant in the media circus they are trying to create'.
Robinson is one of the most successful singer-songwriters in pop history, with hits he performed himself – such as US No 1 Tears of a Clown, with his group the Miracles – complemented by those written for others, such as My Guy by Mary Wells, Ain't That Peculiar by Marvin Gaye and hits by the Temptations including Get Ready and My Girl.
The allegations against him date from between 2007 and 2024. The women, who are all anonymised in the lawsuit, allege that he sexually assaulted them at his estate in Chatsworth, California, with alleged offences also taking place at homes in Las Vegas and Bell Canyon, California.
Lawyers for the women said that 'as low-wage workers in vulnerable positions, they lacked the resources and options necessary to protect themselves from sexual assaults'. Robinson was characterised as 'a serial and sick rapist' who must be stopped.
Robinson's wife, Frances, is accused of using 'ethnically pejorative words and language', and being aware of the alleged sexual assaults. 'We believe she was aware of the misconduct by her husband, Smokey Robinson, and that she used their status as well as our clients' reliance on their living wage in order to keep them in check,' lawyer Herbert Hayden said.
Frost said that Robinson would later respond in his own words, and that a motion would be filed to dismiss the lawsuit.