LOS ANGELES: Motown legend Smokey Robinson was facing a multimillion dollar lawsuit on Tuesday from four former housekeepers who allege the soul singer repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted them.
A lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles court claims the 85-year-old forced himself on the women multiple times over a number of years, often when his wife was not at home.
One of the plaintiffs alleges the “Tracks of My Tears” singer would summon her to his bedroom in his Los Angeles area home, and greet her wearing only his underwear.
He would then sexually assault her, despite her protestations, with the suit claiming there were seven such attacks between March 2023 and when she felt compelled to resign in February 2024.
Another former housekeeper alleges Robinson assaulted her more than 20 times over a four-year period, while a third says in the suit that she was “sexually harassed, sexually assaulted and raped” throughout her 12-year employment to 2024.
The fourth woman says the singer began assaulting her in 2007 when she traveled with him to his Las Vegas home.
None of the women is named in the suit, which is common in cases involving claims of sexual assault.
The suit, which is seeking at least $50 million in damages, says none of the women reported the assaults at the time because they were intimidated by Robinson's celebrity, and feared attacks on their character.
Robinson's wife, Frances, who is also named in the lawsuit for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and ignoring her husband's behavior, told AFP the suit had come as a surprise.
“I’m as shocked as you are,“ she said when reached by telephone, but declined to go into details.
Robinson was one of the founding members of The Miracles, a Detroit-based outfit that came together in the 1950s.
The group had dozens of chart hits, including the smash “The Tears of a Clown” in 1967.
