It was sort of hushed up, except for the outrage that the FBI was spying on him.
What they did not do is release the details to destroy his reputation.
Of course, back then, if a girl went up to a man's motel room, she was presumed to be agreeing to sex. So it's not exactly “rape rape”, to quote Whoopie Goldberg.
Things have changed: Bill Cosby asked girls to go up to his hotel room for sex and offered them “downers” to take first, and even though they agreed to these things, now the girls now claim they are victims. Things have changed.
Although this article was highlighting the rape of a church lady, it appears that King never touched her. No need, he had an eager line of willing participants every where he traveled. He’s not the rapist in chief, just an amused bystander since it always been so easy for him.
MLK had ‘rock star’ appeal and actual groupies that showed up or passed him their phone numbers. And in addition to Mrs. King, he had three regular women that frequented his bed. He bedded two newbies the night he died and the third (a regular) got mad and he physically smacked her down, according to his closest friend and the successor of the CR movement.
MLK was a very busy man and had to have been physically exhausted with keeping such a schedule.
The FBI was probably very disappointed the night their free porno shows ended and King was dead.
They would be stuck listening or watching King reruns, the party was forever over!
His heirs could have marketed a ‘love potion’ / testosterone drink bearing his name.
[ And some of Cosby’s victims were complete incapacitated victims, he drugged them. They could not leave or resist. And that is false imprisonment or kidnapping in addition to rape.]