Just a few days ago, the alleged sexual abuse by Bob Dylan made national headlines. The reports came in after a woman, only identified as J.C., sued the folk artist for alleged sexual abuse when she was 12 years old in 1965. The woman and her lawyer claimed that Dylan groomed and abused her at the Chelsea Hotel in New York. She also alleges this happened during a six-week period between April and May of 1965.
Now, this time frame and location are being questioned by Bob Dylan’s biographer, Clinton Heylin. The British writer is one of many Dylan biographers. He released his newest book, The Double Life Of Bob Dylan: A Restless, Hungry Feeling, 1941-1966, about Dylan’s early life, in May this year. Heylin claims the alleged abuse is “not possible” in this time frame because Dylan had too much going on.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Heylin expresses his doubts about the accusations made against Dylan. “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 ten days, but Bob flew into London on April 26 and arrived back in New York on June 3.” He continues, “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 the Chelsea.”
The author also states the through most of 1965, Dylan was accompanied by a documentary crew filming his life for Don’t Look Back. He goes on to say that Dylan was seen with multiple mature women during this time, including his pregnant future wife Sara Lownds, late singer Nico, Joan Baez and Marianne Faithfull.
Also according to the same article by the Huffington Post, J.C. and her lawyer “stand by the pleading.”
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