Motown icon Smokey Robinson, now 85, is facing a rapidly expanding civil lawsuit after two additional accusers, one of them a man, moved to join the existing $50 million case filed against him and his wife Frances Gladney Robinson earlier this year.
On November 14, 2025, attorneys for the original four female housekeepers (identified as Jane Does 1–4) filed a motion in Los Angeles Superior Court to amend the complaint and add Jane Doe 5 and the first-ever male plaintiff, John Doe. If approved, the total number of accusers alleging sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, and a hostile work environment at the Robinsons’ Chatsworth mansion will rise to six.
The new allegations are graphic and span years.
John Doe, who worked as a car detailer and valet beginning around 2013, claims Smokey Robinson repeatedly appeared in front of him wearing only underwear while visibly aroused and fondling himself. On at least one occasion, the filing states, Robinson allegedly grabbed the man’s hand and attempted to force it onto his erect penis. The plaintiff says he quit after learning of similar incidents involving female staff, but was rehired a year later by Frances Robinson, only for the alleged behavior to resume, including suggestive comments and gestures. He was eventually fired after resisting advances.
Jane Doe 5, a former housekeeper employed from approximately 2007 to 2011, alleges Robinson summoned her to the bathroom on multiple occasions to scrub his back while he stood naked and erect in the shower. The filing claims that over ten separate times he seized her hand and forced it onto his genitals. She also alleges he groped her breasts repeatedly, trauma she says ultimately led her to undergo breast-reduction surgery. Like the original plaintiffs, she accuses Frances Robinson of fostering a toxic environment that included ethnic slurs and intimidation.
The amended complaint seeks to incorporate these two new plaintiffs into the existing lawsuit originally filed in May 2025, which already accused the couple of turning their home into what the plaintiffs call a “house of horrors” for domestic staff between roughly 2006 and 2014.
Robinson and his wife have vehemently denied all allegations from the start. Their attorney, Christopher Frost, labeled the claims “completely fabricated” and part of an “organized, avaricious campaign” designed to extort money from an elderly music legend. In June 2025, the Robinsons filed a $500 million countersuit against the original four women, accusing them of defamation, civil conspiracy, extortion, and elder abuse. The couple maintains the accusers were treated “like family,” receiving lavish gifts including paid vacations, concert tickets, cash bonuses, and even a car.
The case is currently scheduled for trial in 2027. A judge has so far allowed all plaintiffs to proceed anonymously.
Separately, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Bureau opened a criminal investigation in May 2025 after the initial lawsuit was filed. Detectives are examining allegations that fall within the statute of limitations (primarily incidents from 2014 onward). No charges have been filed, and the investigation remains active.
As the legal battle intensifies, the inclusion of a male accuser marks a significant and rare development in high-profile music-industry sexual-misconduct cases. It also raises new questions about the scope and pattern of the alleged behavior inside one of the most private homes in Motown history.
Smokey Robinson, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize, has not made a public statement since the latest motion was filed. Representatives for the singer declined to comment beyond previous denials when reached by Exposed Vocals.
More as this story develops.
