Jermaine Jackson has been ordered to pay $6.5 million for allegedly raping a session musician coordinator in her Los Angeles-area home in 1988.
Jackson, a member of The Jackson 5 whose solo career also included Billboard Hot 100 hits like “Daddy’s Home”, “Let’s Get Serious” and “Do What You Do,” faces default judgment in a Thursday (May 14) ruling from Judge Elaine W. Mandel. The order, obtained by Billboard, says Jackson must pay up after ignoring Rita Butler Barrett’s civil claims for more than two years.
Related
Barrett’s attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday (May 15). An inquiry to Jackson also went unanswered.
Barrett, a music contractor who had worked with Jackson in the late 1980s, sued the singer in 2023 for sexual assault and battery. Barrett alleged that in the spring of 1988, Jackson showed up at her Encino home unannounced, forced his way through the door, and violently raped her.
According to the lawsuit, Barrett is not the only victim of sexual violence by Jackson. Court filings included a declaration from a singer-songwriter who toured with Jackson in 1990, claiming he attempted to assault her in her hotel room and later threatened her into staying silent about the incident.
The case was brought under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, which created a one-year window in 2023 for rape victims to file claims that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations. As the law’s name suggests, such complaints needed to include some sort of allegation of a cover-up to qualify for the lookback window.
Barrett invoked the law by alleging in her lawsuit that she reported the alleged assault to Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, but that he ignored and covered up the incident so that Jackson’s music would keep making money for the label. A rep for Motown did not immediately return a request for comment on this allegation.
Jackson never responded to the lawsuit, and no lawyer ever appeared on his behalf in court to defend the claims. Barrett’s attorneys thus moved for default judgment earlier this year and sought $6.5 million in damages “for “significant and ongoing emotional distress.” This, too, garnered no response from Jackson, and a judge granted the damages in full on Thursday.
After the lawsuit was filed, Jackson was reportedly dropped by his longtime reps at Artists Management Agency. He’s recently been active in promoting the Michael Jackson biopic Michael, which stars his son Jaafar Jackson as his late brother.
