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Tag: Joan Tarshis

  • Don Lemon Apologizes For Comment To Bill Cosby Rape Victim

    Several women have recently come forward to accuse actor Bill Cosby of raping and/or sexually harassing them when they were young women. Some of these women claim that Cosby threatened them or tried to pay them off to keep quiet.

    One of these women, Joan Tarshis, recently talked about her awful experiences on CNN and while talking about it was hard enough, she also had to put up with the insensitive comments of CNN anchor Don Lemon.

    Tarshis shared her story from 1969 when she claims that Cosby forced her to perform oral sex on him. He had tried to have vaginal intercourse with Tarshis but she told him she had an STD to try to change his mind. While he didn’t push the intercourse, he did make her perform oral sex.

    After hearing her story, Lemon chimed in to inform her that she could have stopped the oral sex too.

    “You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn’t want to do it,” he said.

    “I was kind of stoned at the time, and quite honestly, that didn’t even enter my mind,” Tarshis replied. “Now I wish it would have.”

    Viewers weren’t happy about the comment and voiced their opinions on social networks and forums, criticizing Lemon for being so inconsiderate and disrespectful.

    Tarshis said that she didn’t feel that the comment was insensitive or disrespectful, but Lemon released an apology anyway.

    “A word about my interview last night with Cosby accuser Joan Tarshis: As I am a victim myself, I would never want to suggest that any victim could have prevented a rape,” said Lemon. “If my question to her struck anyone as insensitive, I am sorry as that was certainly not my intention.”

    Tarshis accepted the apology and even defended Lemon during her second appearance on CNN.

    “I didn’t take it that way,” she said. “I was just kind of shocked, but I didn’t think he was saying, ‘Oh, you could have presented this if you had just fought back.’ I thought it was more of a good-natured, ‘Why didn’t you just do that?’ rather than saying, ‘You could have stopped this if you had just done that.’”

    “But quite honestly,” Tarshis continued, “I felt [Lemon] and I didn’t know each other, but…this is the second interview [we’ve done] together and he had kind of horsed around back stage before. He ran in late. We kind of like each other. And I just thought it was kind of maybe something he might not have said on air, [it] might have been seen as good taste to do it on air, but I certainly don’t think that he meant anything malicious by it at all…It was very casually done. It was almost like we were together at a restaurant and saying ‘Why didn’t you do this, hey girlfriend.’”

    Do you think the comment was inappropriate?

  • Don Lemon Suggests Bill Cosby Rape Accuser Could’ve Fought It Off by Biting His Penis

    If you clicked on this after reading the headline and thinking there’s no way that actually happened, well, prepared to be surprised.

    CNN talking head Don Lemon pressed a seriously troubling line of questioning during a Tuesday night interview with new Bill Cosby rape accuser Joan Tarshis. Earlier this week, Tarshis became the latest in a string of women to come forward alleging comedian Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them in the past. In a recent essay, Tarshis recounts numerous instances of alleged rape dating back to 1969.

    She appeared on CNN Tuesday night to discuss her allegations with Lemon, who took the interview to a very strange place.

    “I don’t mean to be crude, ok, because I know – and you said this last night – that you lied to him and said ‘I have an infection, and if you rape me, or if you have intercourse with me, then you will probably get it and give it to your wife.’ And you said he made you perform oral sex,” said Lemon.

    “Right,” said Tarshis.

    “You, you know – there are ways not to perform oral sex,” said Lemon.

    “Um, I was kinda stoned at the time and quite honestly, that didn’t even enter my mind,” said Tarshis. “Now I wish It would have.”

    “Right, meaning the using of the teeth, right,” Lemon asked, “as a weapon.”

    “Yes – I didn’t even think of it,” said Tarshis.

    “Yeah, biting,” said Lemon.

    You can watch the interchange below:

    As you might expect, this isn’t going over well.

    No word from Don Lemon on what could have possibly motivated him to ask a woman why she didn’t bite Bill Cosby’s penis when she was (allegedly) raped at the age of 19.

  • Joan Tarshis: Who Is the New Woman Accusing Bill Cosby of Rape?

    Bill Cosby has been the focus of much attention over allegations by multiple women that he raped them, some saying he used drugs or spiked drinks to do it. Others simply say he used his power and position to get them to do things they did not want to do.

    Bill Cosby’s people released a pair of statements over the weekend, insisting that the latest round of accusations against Cosby were old news, long-discredited, and would not be addressed again by them.

    But now a new name has come forward. Her story is not recent, it was back in 1969, but she is not one of the handful of women who have already had their stories told numerous times. Those women are angry that they were not taken seriously by the public until Hannibal Buress called Cosby out on the allegations. But this woman is a new factor. This one has not yet been “discredited.”

    Her name is Joan Tarshis. She described how she was working with Cosby on an acting monologue in hopes of furthering her acting career. She said he molested her, despite her feigning having an infection to dissuade him. She said she also believes she was drugged and woke up naked in his bed.

    But who is Joan Tarshis? She is sometimes referred to in the media as a journalist and a publicist or as a former actress.

    Her Facebook page says she lives in Woodstock, New York and has done a bit of traveling.

    Her LinkedIn profile says she is a grad student at Walden University, has written for various national magazines, including Reader’s Digest, Men’s Health, and Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine.

    She has done PR for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Marley, Anne Murray, Joan Jett and others.

    In an interview with Philly Magazine, Tarshis said she is coming forward now because her parents are older and would not be hurt by her revelations. She said that she wants to join the other alleged victims and give them credibility.

    “And in an ideal world, I would love NBC to cancel the series they’re doing with him, but that involves money, not ethics. So that’s not going to happen. And I would also like to be able to say ‘Bill Cosby is a rapist’ and have America believe it.”

    At the rate Tarshis, the other accusers, and Hannibal Buress are getting things rolling, that may end up being something that America believes, even if it can’t be proven.

  • Joan Tarshis Describes Alleged Sexual Assaults by Bill Cosby

    Joan Tarshis is the latest woman to come forward with allegations of rape against actor and comedian Bill Cosby.

    In an essay published Sunday on the online magazine Hollywood Elsewhere, the former actress and music industry professional describes her first meeting with Cosby.

    Tarshis said Cosby “took a liking” to the 19-year-old during a visit to Universal Studios in Los Angeles in 1969, where the comedian was shooting The Bill Cosby Show. Tarshis alleges that during her visits with Cosby, the comedian would attempt to get her drunk. She recalled one of the alleged episodes after drinking several Bloody Marys, which were topped with beer by Cosby.

    “The next thing I remember was coming to on his couch while being undressed,” wrote Tarshis.

    “I was sickened by what was happening to me and shocked that this man I had idolized was now raping me. Of course I told no one.”

    Tarshis alleges it was after attending one of his gigs that she woke up in Cosby’s hotel suite, naked in his bed.

    “It took me about 20 years to admit this to anyone,” wrote Tarshis. “And though I knew I should say something, I still felt ashamed. Ashamed that I didn’t earlier.”

    Tarshis said in the essay “the time is right to join them,” referring to other women who have also accused the beloved actor, including former teen actress and model, Barbara Bowman, who wrote an editorial in the Washington Post last week claiming Cosby drugged and raped her in the 1980s.

    Accusations have plagued Cosby for years. In 2006, he settled a civil lawsuit with a Canadian woman who claimed she was drugged and sexually assaulted at his home.

    Cosby‘s attorney, John P. Schmitt, addressed the “decade-old, discredited allegations” Sunday by posting a message on the comedian’s official website.

    “The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true,” wrote Schmitt. “Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment.”

  • Bill Cosby Accused Of Being A Serial Rapist, Remains Silent

    Bill Cosby is now in the center of a media firestorm after allegations of him committing rape have resurfaced. Recently, Cosby’s attorneys released a blanket statement on their website saying that, “decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby doesn’t not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment.” On Monday, November 17, Cosby’s representatives released another statement clarifying that this does not pertain to the allegations of Andrea Constand. Constand’s civil lawsuit against Cosby was settled back in 2006.

    The statement was released jointly with Constand’s lawyer and says, “The statement released by Mr. Cosby’s attorney over the weekend was not intended to refer in any way to Andrea Constand. As previously reported, differences between Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand were resolved to the mutual satisfaction of Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand years ago.”

    In 2005 Constand filed a lawsuit against Cosby and she claimed that other women would be willing to testify. Those named in the filing were Tamara Green and Barbara Bowman, two women who also accused Cosby of raping them. The latest woman to come forward is a publicist named Joan Tarshis who claims that Cosby drugged and raped her when she was 19 years old.

    Cosby has remained silent about the recent allegations. It’s been reported that these incidents go as far back as the 1960s. In a recent interview with NPR’s Scott Simon, Cosby only shook his head and kept quiet when asked about the scandal. Eric B. Denzenhall, a Washington-based crisis consultant, discussed Cosby’s strategy in dealing with the matter.

    Denzenhall said, “In the current culture, no matter what you do to defend yourself in one of these high-profile media vortexes, it generates multiple waves of new and negative coverage. Cosby has got to be thinking, ‘is the better of my very bad options to remain silent?’”

    Recent TV show appearances by Cosby have been canceled since the news broke out about the new allegations. Cosby canceled his appearance on the Queen Latifah Show, an interview with Alternative Press, and a guest spot in The Late Show with David Letterman. The comedian was supposed to do a promotional tour for his new Netflix comedy special. Netflix executives are still quiet about whether or not the release of the special will push through on its intended date.

    A new NBC show is being developed that stars Bill Cosby as a patriarch of a multi-generational family. There is no news yet on how the scandal will affect the show’s development.