Two more of Smokey Robinson’s former employees — a woman and a man — have come forward with claims that the 85-year-old Motown singer sexually assaulted them on the job.
Robinson was first accused of sexual misconduct in May, when four anonymous, female ex-housekeepers at his Los Angeles-area home brought a $50 million civil lawsuit alleging the singer forced them to have oral and vaginal sex dozens of times between 2007 and 2024. Robinson vehemently denied those claims and has countersued the housekeepers for defamation.
Now, another anonymous female housekeeper and an unnamed male car mechanic want to join the lawsuit. A lawyer for the group, John Harris, argued in a motion to amend the lawsuit on Friday (Nov. 14) that all the claims involve “overlapping events under the same operative timeline.”
The fifth housekeeper, dubbed “Jane Doe 5,” claims Robinson groped her breasts, propositioned her for sex and forced her to scrub his back in the shower between 2007 and 2011. The mechanic, a man known as “John Doe 1,” says Robinson would masturbate while watching him work starting in 2013 and once tried to force him to touch Robinson’s penis.
In a statement shared with Billboard on Wednesday (Nov. 19), Harris said, “We commend these two courageous survivors for stepping forward and adding their voices to this case. We look forward to advocating for them vigorously as they pursue the justice they deserve.”
Robinson’s lawyer, Christopher Frost, responded in his own statement that the new claims are false and 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,” added Frost. “Once the public can see the truth, their avaricious motives and fabricated claims will be revealed.”
The civil claims against Robinson are currently scheduled to go to trial in 2027. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department also opened a criminal investigation after the housekeepers made a police report, though no charges have been filed to date.
