Bob Dylan sued for alleged sexual abuse of a 12-year-old in 1965

The lawsuit alleges that the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer abused the girl over a six-week period.
Bob Dylan performs as part of a double bill with Neil Young at Hyde Park on July 12, 2019 in London, England.
By Natalia Mittelstadt

Bob Dylan was sued in New York on Friday for allegedly grooming, sexually abusing, and threatening physical violence against a 12-year-old girl in 1965.

Dylan, whose real name is Robert Zimmerman, is 80 years old, an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He has received the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Pulitzer Prize, and several Grammy Awards.

The lawsuit claims that the abuse occurred over a period of six weeks between April and May of 1965, including at Dylan's Chelsea Hotel apartment in New York.

In the suit, the plaintiff, only identified by the initials "J.C.," alleges that Dylan "exploited his status as a musician" by providing her with alcohol and drugs.

"Dylan's predatory, sexual and unlawful acts against Plaintiff amounted to a series of harmful and offensive contacts to Plaintiff's person, all of which were done intentionally by him to her without her consent," the lawsuit reads.

Dylan's spokesperson told USA TODAY in a statement that "the 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended."

J.C. claims in the lawsuit that she has sustained physical and psychological injuries, which include "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."

The lawsuit was filed under the New York Child Victims Act of 2019, which allowed a window of time that expired Saturday for people who were allegedly abused as children to sue their abusers beyond the statute of limitations.