Smokey Robinson sues former housekeepers for defamation over rape allegations

Smokey Robinson (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

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 women are seeking at least 50 million dollars, 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”, holidayed 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 holidays 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”.

“Unfortunately, the depths of Plaintiffs’ avarice and greed know no bounds,” the counterclaim says.

“During the very time that the Robinsons were being extraordinarily generous with Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs were concocting an extortionate plan to take everything from the Robinsons.”

John Harris and Herbert Hayden, attorneys for the former housekeepers, said in a statement that the defamation suit “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.

The Sheriff’s Department would give no details on its investigation beyond confirming its existence.

Robinson, who was a central figure in the Motown Records machine with his group the Miracles and as a solo artist, is a member of both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.