Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour dates don’t refute sex abuse allegations, lawyer says
A lawyer for a woman who accused Bob Dylan of sexually abusing her when she was 12 in 1965 told Page Six that the musician’s tour schedule from the time doesn’t refute his client’s claims.
The alleged victim’s lawyer said that while Dylan was on tour in England and other places for parts of April and May — when his client claims the abuse occurred — there was still enough time for the “Like a Rolling Stone” crooner to get back to New York, where she said the incidents happened.
“Looking at the [tour] schedule — it’s not inconsistent with our client’s claims,” Daniel Isaacs told Page Six, in response to reports that the allegations by his client were inconsistent with Dylan’s tour schedule at the time. “We will prove our claims in the appropriate forum, which is in the court of law.”
The woman, now 68, filed suit under the initials J.C. against the “Blowin’ in the Wind” folk singer, claiming that he groomed her, plied her with drugs and alcohol and then sexually molested and abused her.
Dylan’s spokesperson said Monday, “This 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.”
There has since been a report by Huffpost that J.C.’s allegations couldn’t be true since the 81-year-old singer-songwriter was away on tour in England and other places for parts of April and much of May.
Dylan had a concert in Berkeley, California, on April 3, 1965; another in Vancouver on April 9; and another in Sheffield, England, on April 30, 1965 — that would kick off a series of shows in the country lasting through May 10 — according to the official Bob Dylan website.
Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin told HuffPost that J.C.’s allegations are “not possible.”
“Dylan was touring [in] England during that time, and was in Los Angeles for two of those weeks, plus a day or two at Woodstock,” in upstate New York, Heylin told the outlet. “The tour was 10 days, but Bob flew into London on April 26 and arrived back in New York on June 3.”
“If Dylan was in New York in mid-April, it was for no more than a day or two,” Heylin told the news site.
Still, Isaacs stood by the lawsuit, saying, “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,” Isaacs said. “It’s our position that the evidence will establish that he was in New York during the relevant time period.”
The suit was filed late Friday, on the eve of the closure of the New York Child Victims’ Act look-back window. The window allowed victims of childhood abuse to file suit against their alleged attackers and the institutions that protected them regardless of how old the claims were and whether they had since passed beyond the statute of limitations.
Dylan’s rep said he had no further comment.
