Bob Dylan biographer calls sexual abuse allegations “not possible”

Gaia Writer

Bob Dylan was accused of sexually abusing a minor over two months 1965 in a lawsuit filed late last week by a woman identified as J.C. In the suit, she alleges that the abuse took place in Dylan's room in Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel during April and May of 1965. Clinton Heylin, who has written nine books about Dylan, most recently this year's The Double Life of Bob Dylan: Volume I: 1941–1966 A Restless, Hungry Feeling, has spoken to HuffPost about the allegations, casting doubt on the timeline.

"It’s not possible," Heylin told HuffPost. "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 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 continued to HuffPost. "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."

Heylin also told HuffPost that Dylan began living in the Chelsea Hotel that fall, and pointed out that he was being followed extensively by a film crew, making 1967 documentary Don't Look Back, during that time period.

In a statement to Pitchfork, a representative for Dylan previously said, "The 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended."