Nobel Prize awardee and American pop icon Bob Dylan has been accused of sexual assault for an incident from back in 1965. The supposed victim, J.C., has anonymously filed a lawsuit entailing assault, battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress.
The alleged incident took place about 60 years ago in Dylan’s New York apartment in Chelsea Hotel. J.C., at the time, was 12 years old. The lawsuit filed Friday claims Dylan abused the girl for over six weeks between April and May 1965. It says he “exploited his status as a musician to provide J.C. with alcohol and drugs and sexually abuse her multiple times.”
Bob Dylan’s biographer, Clinton Heylin, who has published over six books about him refutes this claim.
“It’s not possible. Dylan was touring England during that time and was in Los Angeles for two of those weeks, plus a day or two at Woodstock. The tour was 10 days, but Bob flew into London on April 26 and arrived back in New York on June 3. If he was in New York in mid-April, it was for no more than a day or two. Woodstock was where he spent most of his time. And if he was in NYC, he stayed at his manager’s apartment in Gramercy, not the Chelsea.”, he says in a Huffington Post article.
Dylan’s then-future wife, Sara Lownds, was also pregnant with their first child at the time. Although he was spotted with several other women, none of them were supposedly minors, confirms Clinton.
However, J.C.’s lawyer states his client’s claims were not inconsistent with Dylan’s touring schedule. “There are dates when he was not touring for several weeks in April. The claims were vetted before the case was filed and we did our research,” he said.
J.C. also stated that Bob Dylan tried to establish an emotional connection to lower her inhibitions and sexually abused her. With threats of physical violence, she is “emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day”. Dylan has refused this claim via a spokesperson.
