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Bob Dylan experts contest claims about his location in 1965 made in sexual assault lawsuit
The suit claims that Dylan abused a girl between April and May 1965.
Image: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
Bob Dylan experts have stated that it is “almost impossible” to reconcile his whereabouts alleged in the recent sexual assault lawsuit that has been brought against him. An attorney for the accuser, conversely, stated that: “The claims were vetted before the case was filed, and we did our research.”
The lawsuit, which became public earlier this week, accuses Dylan of assault, battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
It alleges that Dylan, then in his mid-20s, used his status as a celebrity to befriend and groom a girl (identified as “JC” in the suit) over a “six-week period” between April to May 1965 with the intent of sexually abusing her. The suit document states that “at certain times” the sexual abuse took place at his apartment at the Hotel Chelsea in New York.
A representative for Dylan told USA Today: “The 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.”
In the days following the suit becoming public, a number of experts on Bob Dylan have stated that records of Dylan’s whereabouts in 1965 conflict with the claims made in the suit. Records state that Dylan was in either England or Portugal for the entire month of May, performing shows at the London Albert Hall early in the month and recording live sessions at the BBC’s studios on 1 June.
One biographer, Anne Margaret Daniel, posted a Twitter thread of contemporaneous newspaper reports documenting his time in London – noting that it extended through June, and possibly into July.
In March 1965, Bob Dylan had left his home in Woodstock for an American concert tour with Joan Baez. 1/5 pic.twitter.com/AswpV0RN3v
— Anne Margaret Daniel (@venetianblonde) August 16, 2021
Clinton Heylin, author of The Double Life Of Bob Dylan: A Restless, Hungry Feeling (1941-1966), told the Huffington Post that there was a small window where Dylan could have been in New York in April or May 1965. “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 26 April and arrived back in New York on 3 June.
“If Dylan 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 when not touring. And if he was in NYC, he invariably stayed at his manager’s apartment in Gramercy, not Chelsea.”
The lawyer for JC, Daniel Isaaccs, responded to these above claims, telling Page Six: “Looking at the [tour] schedule – it’s not inconsistent with our client’s claims. There are dates that he wasn’t touring for several weeks in April and this will all come out at that appropriate time. The claims were vetted before the case was filed and we did our research. It’s our position that the evidence will establish that he was in New York during the relevant time period.”
Isaacs also offered a statement over email to Rolling Stone, where he asserted: “The complaint speaks for itself. And our allegations shall be proven in the appropriate venue: A court of law.”