Lawyer for Bob Dylan accuser insists tour dates line up with claims
EXCLUSIVE: Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour had two-week hiatus between US gigs and his last performance in London was on May 10 – ample time to return to NYC’s Chelsea Hotel, where he’s accused of sexually abusing a woman when she was 12, lawyer says
- A woman, identified only as J.C., has accused Bob Dylan of sexually abusing her in New York City between April and May 1965 when she was 12 years old
- Reports cast doubt on the woman’s claims after the singer’s tour schedule showed he would have been away on tour at the time
- But lawyers for J.C. pointed to a two-week gap between shows in April when Dylan would have allegedly returned to New York
- ‘The schedule is consistent with her claims,’ the lawyer told DailyMail.com. ‘There’s no doubt she was in the Chelsea Hotel with Dylan during that period’
- Dylan is accused of grooming and plying the girl, now 68, with drugs and alcohol before allegedly sexually abusing her
- The suit claims some of the incidents took place at Dylan’s apartment in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan
- A spokesperson for the singer-songwriter, 80, on Monday slammed the ’56-year-old claim’ as ‘untrue’
The lawyer for the 68-year-old woman who has accused Bob Dylan of grooming and sexually abusing her in New York as a child, has shot down reports the singer was away on tour at the time of the alleged incidents.
In an interview with DailyMail.com, Daniel W. Isaacs cited several gaps in the star’s 1965 touring schedule when Dylan allegedly returned to his New York City apartment.
‘There were two weeks between shows in April,’ Isaacs told DailyMail.com.
The tour dates also show performances in London through May 10, but nothing else for the rest of the month.
In the lawsuit filed on Friday, the woman, identified as ‘J.C.,’ claimed Dylan ‘exploited his status as a musician to provide [her] with alcohol and drugs and sexually abuse her multiple times’ over a six-week period between April and May 1965.
J.C., who was 12 years old at the time, alleged that some of the abuse took place at the star’s apartment in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, once home to fellow artists Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper and Joni Mitchell.
A spokesperson for Dylan released a statement on Monday denying the allegations, saying: ‘This 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.’
The woman’s accusations were also called into question by celebrity gossip blogger Roger Friedman, who cited Dylan’s 1965 England tour dates which appeared to conflict with her claims.
The lawyer of the woman who has accused Bob Dylan of sexually abusing her in 1965, said there is ‘no doubt’ her client was with the singer at the Chelsea Hotel between April and May that year. Pictured: Dylan and ex-girlfriend Joan Baez in London in April 27, 1965
Dylan performing at BBC TV Centre, London on June 1, 1965. A report published by celebrity gossip blogger Roger Friedman cast doubt on the woman’s accusations Monday, citing Dylan’s 1965 concert schedule showing he had been on the road on the West Coast and in England for most of that period
The schedule shows Dylan had several tour dates on the West Coast in April before spending most of May in London. On Tuesday, lawyer Daniel W. Isaacs cited several gaps when Dylan would have returned to his New York City apartment
Friedman, who described the suit as ‘bogus’, also noted that the music icon would have been on tour with fellow singer Joan Baez, his one-time girlfriend, for ‘all of the time “J.C.” says she was with Dylan at The Chelsea.’
The schedule shows the musician had been on the road on the West Coast and the UK for most of that period.
A lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court says Dylan gave drugs and alcohol to a 12-year-old girl before repeatedly sexually abusing her
He played a concert in Berkeley, California on April 3 and one in Vancouver on April 9.
He had a show in Portland two weeks later on April 23 and another in Seattle the following day.
Dylan then embarked on his England tour from April 30 to May 10.
According to Friedman, Dylan arrived in London just a few days earlier on April 26, and did not return to the US until June 2.
The UK tour was also documented in D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 film Don’t Look Back.
But the woman’s lawyer, Daniel W. Isaacs on Tuesday cited several gaps in the tour dates when Dylan would have allegedly returned to his New York City apartment.
‘The schedule is consistent with her claims,’ the lawyer added.
‘There’s no doubt she was in the Chelsea Hotel with Dylan during that period.
‘The complaint and allegations were thoroughly vetted and factual details were provided by our client.
‘There’s all sort of things we found that back up her claims, on the internet, various sources and blogs and all that. A lot of research went into this. We’ll prove our case in a court of law.’
The singer’s May touring schedule also shows performances through May 10, but nothing else for the rest of the month
Dylan’s 1965 England tour was also documented in D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 film (pictured) Don’t Look Back
The lawsuit states some of the alleged abuse happened at the famed Chelsea Hotel, which was once home to musicians and artists including Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and Joni Mitchell
J.C., who is now based in Greenwich, Connecticut, filed the suit in Manhattan on Friday, less than three hours before New York’s Child Victims Act expired on August 14.
Dylan, now 81, would have been 23 at the time he allegedly threatened her with physical violence and left her ‘scarred and psychological damaged to this day’, the lawsuit claims.
‘Bob Dylan, over a six-week period between April and May of 1965 befriended and established an emotional connection with the plaintiff,’ the suit states.
He ‘exploited his status as a musician’ to provide J.C. with ‘alcohol and drugs and sexually abuse her multiple times,’ it continues.
It goes on to say that Dylan established a ‘connection’ to ‘lower [J.C.’s] inhibitions with the object of sexually abusing her, which he did, coupled with the provision of drugs, alcohol and threats of physical violence, leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day.’
The lawsuit claims J.C., suffered assault, battery, false imprisonment and emotional distress.
She seeks compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages based on physical and emotional injuries from her time with the singer.
‘J.C. sustained physical and psychological injuries, including but not limited to, severe emotional and psychological distress, humiliation, fright, disassociation, anger, depression, anxiety, personal turmoil and loss of faith, a severe shock to her nervous system, physical pain and mental anguish, and emotional and psychological damage.’
In May, Dylan was spotted out and about in Los Angeles for the first time in a decade
The effects of the alleged abuse ‘are of a permanent and lasting natures and have incapacitated plaintiff from attending her regular activities,’ the suit states.
Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota.
The folk singer’s 60-year-career has netted him 10 Grammy Awards and a Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in 2016 for ‘having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.’
The lawsuit came hours before the New York’s Child Victims Act closed its ‘look back window’ Saturday.
From August 2019 until then, victims of child sexual abuse could bring old claims to court.
Almost 11,000 lawsuits were filed in the two-year period, according to the New York Office of Court Administration.
The biggest share of lawsuits, 2,606, were filed in Manhattan, followed by Brooklyn with 1,620 and Erie County, where the city of Buffalo is, with 1,219.
Four of the state’s Roman Catholic dioceses have filed for bankruptcy partly as a result of litigation unleashed by the state’s Child Victims Act, according to the Associated Press.
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