A lawsuit has alleged Bob Dylan groomed a 12-year-old girl, plied her with drink and drugs then sexually abused her in the 1960s.
The revered singer-songwriter, 80, is accused of befriending the youngster, named in court documents only as JC, over a six-week period between April and May of 1965.
Dylan sexually abused the girl at his apartment at New York’s famed Hotel Chelsea, according to the lawsuit, using drugs, alcohol and threats of physical violence, “leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day”.
A representative for Dylan denied the claims, which were filed at Manhattan Supreme Court.
The lawsuit was filed on Friday, inside the “look back window” of a New York law allowing victims of sexual assault to lodge claims regardless of how long ago the alleged incident took place.
Dylan is guilty of carrying out “predatory, sexual and unlawful acts” against his alleged victim, according to court documents, “all of which were done intentionally by him to her without her consent”.
The alleged victim has suffered “severe mental distress, anguish, humiliation and embarrassment, as well as economic losses”, it is claimed.
The accuser, now 68, lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, the lawsuit states.
Dylan is accused of assault, battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress.
The woman is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.
A representative for Dylan told the New York Post: “This 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.”
Minnesota-born Dylan, whose real name is Robert Allen Zimmerman, has been one of the most significant figures in popular music for 60 years.
He became a celebrated voice of protest against the Vietnam War and in favour of the Civil Rights movement, with his best-known songs including Blowin’ In The Wind and The Times They Are a-Changin’.
Among his honours are Grammys, an Oscar, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article