Two more former domestic employees are making sexual battery allegations against Smokey Robinson. One is a man who claims he was subjected to sexual abuse while working as a car detailing valet for the Motown legend. The man, identified as John Doe, claims Robinson repeatedly fondled himself in plain view and once tried to force the man’s hand onto his erect penis.
The new accusers stepped forward in a new motion filed in Los Angeles by the four former housekeepers who brought a $50 million lawsuit against Robinson in May. In their motion, obtained by Rolling Stone, the women are seeking court permission to add John Doe and a fifth woman identified as Jane Doe 5 as co-plaintiffs in an amended complaint. A hearing on the matter is set for Jan. 6.
In a statement, Robinson’s lawyer, Christopher Frost, said the new proposed plaintiffs are “part of the same group of people who have conspired together against the Robinsons and are layering out their claims for maximum adverse publicity.” He claimed the accusers are part of an “organized, avaricious campaign to extract money from an 85-year-old legend.”
“This group of people, who hide behind anonymity, and their attorneys, seek global publicity while making the ugliest of false allegations,” Frost said Wednesday in the statement to Rolling Stone. “Once the public can see the truth, their avaricious motives and fabricated claims will be revealed.”
The first four employees filed their original complaint on May 6, alleging Robinson would find ways to isolate them at his homes in the San Fernando Valley and Las Vegas and force them into sexual contact despite their protests. Jane Doe 1 alleged Robinson sexually battered her at least seven times between January 2023 and February 2024. She claimed Robinson would take his wife to a nail salon, rush home, and then lure her into his “blue bedroom,” where he would lock the door and rape her without using a condom.
Jane Doe 2 alleged she worked for Robinson and his wife between May 2014 and February 2020. She claimed Robinson forced her into unwanted sexual acts on at least 23 occasions. She said Robinson would force her to perform oral sex on him before he penetrated her without using a condom.
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The new Jane Doe 5 accuser would bring similar claims, if allowed to join the lawsuit, the new filing states. The woman alleges that between 2007 and 2011, Robinson repeatedly sexually harassed and battered her while she worked as a housekeeper. According to the new motion, Robinson would summon Jane Doe 5 into a bathroom while showering and ask her to scrub his back. “Defendant Smokey Robinson would turn to face her while naked in the shower with an erect penis, then turn again to ask her to scrub his back,” the new motion reads. “On more than 10 occasions, he would then physically grab her hand and attempt to force her to touch his erect penis. [She] would strongly resist by forcibly pushing his hands away, and would escape from the bathroom.”
Robinson and his wife, who is a co-defendant in the lawsuit, responded to the initial lawsuit by filing a $500 million defamation and elder abuse cross-complaint against the first four housekeepers. They alleged the women were treated “as extended family,” given autonomy in their jobs and substantial gifts, including vacations, concert tickets, and even a car in one case. “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 (everything over and above what they were freely given) and wrongfully destroy the Robinsons’ well-built reputations,” the 19-page cross-complaint said.
In a declaration attached to the motion, plaintiffs’ lawyer John W. Harris said the identities and claims of John Doe and Jane Doe 5 “have been recently fully vetted and developed.” He argued the court should allow them to join the case because their claims are “strikingly similar in nature to those already pleaded in the complaint.” Harris claimed the Robinsons were already aware of the two domestic workers and “specifically named them” in discovery requests.
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“We commend these two courageous survivors for stepping forward and adding their voices to this case,” Harris said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone on Wednesday. “We look forward to advocating for them vigorously as they pursue the justice they deserve.”
A trial in the case is set for Oct. 11, 2027.
