Robin Thicke had a bizarre journey to fame. The son of 80s sitcom actor Alan Thicke and singer-actor Gloria Loring, Robin had industry nepotism on his side from birth. But Alan forged his own career, leaving behind sitcoms for the music scene. He found his sound in the R&B genre, with heavy soul and pop influence. Thicke’s career has involved collaboration with many stars, including Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida, and Usher.
Thicke saw his fame skyrocket in 2013 with the release of his single “Blurred Lines”, a controversial but popular song which flew to the number one spot on the US Billboard Hot 100. Blurred Lines was written and produced solely by Thicke and performed with singer Pharrell Williams and rapper T.I. The lyrics of the song were criticised for their seeming disregard for expressed content – lines such as “the way you grab me, must wanna get nasty” and “I hate these blurred lines” were underscored with a copiously-repeated “I know you want it”. These lyrics were decried for minimising or celebrating rape culture.
Then the music video dropped, and the allegations of sexism, misogyny, and rape apologism found new merit. The video featured Thicke and fellow singers alongside three models including Emily Ratajkowski in scantily clad outfits performing dances, riding stuffed animals, and rolling around in bed with the singers. An unrated version of the video – completely unnecessarily – featured the models completely nude. This video was removed from YouTube for breaking its community standards.
In her forthcoming book, My Body, Emily Ratajkowski alleges that Robin Thicke groped her during the filming process of the music video. After she “felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger’s hands cupping [her] bare breasts from behind”, she turned to find Thicke smiling at her. Ratajkowski has said that following the assault she wanted to minimise it as much as possible and her professionalism was praised by director, Diane Martel. Martel went on to say that the video was intended to display a reversed power dynamic, but that Thicke, who was apparently drunk at the time, had “reminded everyone on set that we women weren’t actually in charge” with the single gesture.
We wish Emily the best of luck with the proceedings and would like to express solidarity with her as she seeks justice for what was an assault on her body – something that nobody should have to experience. If the #MeToo movement has shown us anything, it is that women at all levels of society can be victims of assault, and only through listening to their experiences can this situation be addressed and, hopefully, remedied.