Two More Ex-Employees Join Smokey Robinson Lawsuit

Two additional former employees have accused Smokey Robinson of sexual battery, seeking to join a $50 million lawsuit filed against the 85-year-old Motown legend and his wife, Frances, by four women who previously worked as their housekeepers. The motion to amend the complaint was filed on November 14, 2024, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, where the new accusers, identified anonymously as Jane Doe 5 and John Doe 1, describe incidents of harassment spanning from 2005 to 2023 at the couple's residences in Chatsworth, California, and other locations in the San Fernando Valley and Las Vegas.

The original lawsuit, initiated on May 6, 2024, alleges that Robinson committed sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, and gender violence against the four women during their employment from 2007 to April 2024. The plaintiffs claim Robinson isolated them in private areas of the homes, such as bedrooms and bathrooms, and forced unwanted sexual contact on multiple occasions, often without protection. They further accuse Frances Robinson of fostering a hostile work environment through ethnically pejorative language and failing to intervene in her husband's alleged conduct. The women...