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Tag: rape allegations

  • Bill Cosby Could Still Be Arrested; Countdown On Statute Expiration Begins

    Bill Cosby just may still have a fight on his hands, if prosecutors decide to make a move. One of the most talked-about cases in which Bill Cosby was accused, but never prosecuted, is that involving former Temple University employee Andrea Constand.

    For months now, most people seem to have written off the idea that the Constand case could ever come back to haunt Cosby. Prosecutors chose not to pursue the case back in 2005 when Constand reported her alleged sexual assault at the hands of Cosby. Then Cosby and Constand wrangled in a civil suit, the final terms of which were bound by a confidentiality agreement.

    But the statute of limitations on the Constand case has not expired. Prosecutors in Pennsylvania very well could resurrect the case and arrest Bill Cosby on the charges. But will they? The statute of limitations does not expire until January, 2016.

    The Montgomery County District Attorney who declined to prosecute Cosby back in 2005 was Bruce L. Castor, Jr. He is no longer the D.A. But he is running to get the job back.

    Current Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman is running for judge and would not be around to try any case her office might bring against Cosby before the statute expires.

    Might Bruce Castor get another chance to bring Cosby in, if Ferman pursues the charges and then hands it over to whoever succeeds her in office? Ferman’s office has issued no comment on whether they will pursue the charges, but Ferman did issue a curious statement, in which she said, “I believe prosecutors have a responsibility to review past conclusions, whether their own or a predecessor’s, when current information might lead to a different decision.”

    For her part, Andrea Constand seems willing to cooperate with a re-opened investigation of Cosby.

    “I think she’s a very strong lady,” Constand’s attorney Dolores M. Troiani says. “She’ll do whatever she needs to do, whatever they ask of her.”

  • Camille Cosby: Has She Seen The Photo That Could Bring Bill Cosby Down?

    Camille Cosby has stood by her man, mostly silently. After years of accusations, all it took was one cell phone video of Hannibal Buress’ stand-up comedy show to light the fuse on Bill Cosby’s career.

    For months, Bill and Camille Cosby have weathered the press and tabloid storms. Camille told us all that Bill was “the man you thought you knew.” Each accusation was denied and decried by attorneys, if it was answered at all. Attorneys fought the unsealing of depositions. They responded when the contents of those depositions were released.

    The back-and-forth of women and lawyers has gone on for so long, some have been left to wonder who to believe. It is true that many others used Quaaludes for consensual sex in the 70s. It is true that Camille Cosby knew that Bill had had affairs before. It all seemed too much to decipher.

    In the war for public opinion, it seemed to be Cosby’s word against each woman’s word.

    But a picture is worth a thousand words. And New York Magazine just fired a volley that is breathtaking in its simplicity, and could be devastating in its effect on Bill Cosby. Has Camille Cosby seen this?

    “Cosby: The Women, An Unwelcome Sisterhood,” is the headline of the social media shared version of the picture.

    Its caption reads:

    “So far, 46 women have come forward to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault, in some cases, according to a recently unsealed deposition, with the aid of Quaaludes-a powerful sedative that can render a person functionally immobile. But these allegations are by no means new, with some stretching back decades-to a time when the culture of rape in America left victims little recourse but to suffer silently, and in shame.”

    “Today, the way we think and talk about rape has evolved, creating a safer space for survivors to feel empowered by speaking up and reclaiming their victimhood. And that’s led us here. Of the 46 women who have come forward to accuse Cosby, we spoke to 35 of them – ‘a sorrowful sisterhood’ of women united by their dark experiences, steadfast in their resolve to remain silent no more.”

    So far, 46 women have come forward to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault, in some cases, according to a recently unsealed deposition, with the aid of quaaludes—a powerful sedative that can render a person functionally immobile. But these allegations are by no means new, with some stretching back decades—to a time when the culture of rape in America left victims little recourse but to suffer silently, and in shame. Today, the way we think and talk about rape has evolved, creating a safer space for survivors to feel empowered by speaking up and reclaiming their victimhood. And that’s led us here. Of the 46 women who have come forward to accuse Cosby, we spoke to 35 of them — “a sorrowful sisterhood” of women united by their dark experiences, steadfast in their resolve to remain silent no more. Read more: nymag.com/cosby-women. 📷: Amanda Demme

    A photo posted by New York Magazine (@nymag) on

    While other news outlets have run more-or-less complete lists of the Cosby accusers, including The Wrap, Fox News, and Slate, the New York Mag cover and accompanying spread is the first time this many of the women were brought together in one frame.

    The effect of seeing all these accusers together in one place, all standing unafraid against the man they say drugged and took advantage of them, is hard to estimate. But the comments are already rolling in.

    Seeing all these women in one place, might Camille Cosby decide to distance herself from Bill’s trouble?

    How will Camille Cosby, as Bill’s manager, respond to the kind of damage that this piece could do?

  • Camille Cosby: Did She Cheat On Bill? Read Her Own Words.

    Camille Cosby has become an ancillary focus in the news surrounding Bill Cosby’s rape and drugging scandal. Much of what Bill and Camille Cosby seem to be focused on is assuring people that Bill Cosby is ‘the man they all thought they knew.’ They insist that he is not a monster, but is indeed Heathcliff Huxtable.

    Over the years, Bill and Camille Cosby have given interviews that now seem treasure troves of hints as to what might have been happening during the years Cosby’s accusers say he was drugging and raping women.

    For example, we know from an extortion case Cosby was embroiled in back in 1997 that he had an affair with one woman in the mid-70s. Bill and Camille Cosby were married in 1964. This time line concurs with something Camille Cosby told Oprah Winfrey in an interview in 2000.

    Speaking about when she knew their marriage had “gelled,” Camille Cosby said, “When we knew that we really wanted to be with each other, that we didn’t want to live without each other. That probably happened ten years after we were married, when we really spent time talking about what marriage means.”

    But in an interview Bill Cosby gave in 2001, he also hinted at something that happened as late as 1993. According to Time Magazine:

    About eight years ago, he says, “if somebody had made me choose between my career and my family, I probably would have let the family go.”

    He took his family for granted, Cosby says, and this attitude led to “selfish behavior” that he will not describe, except to say that it was particularly hurtful to his wife. Speaking cautiously in the second person, with uncharacteristic somberness, he says, “When you’re younger, you want to be sure that by the time you’re 80 years old you can sit on the bench and look back and say, ‘Man, I did it all. I didn’t miss a thing.’ What you never meant to do was to hurt anyone, but then you see the look on the face of the person you didn’t mean to hurt, and then you realize that what you stand to lose is worth so much more . . .” He pauses. “I just asked my wife and my kids to forgive me, and ever since then, they’ve been a part of everything I do.”

    Bill Cosby’s characterization of his actions as “selfish behavior” is interesting. This is very much like another question that Oprah asked Camille Cosby.

    Oprah: I read that you and Bill went through a time in your marriage when you were both focused on selfish needs.

    Camille: We were both young. We had to go through a lot. It’s difficult to learn to live with somebody, to be unselfish and to be responsible for your behavior—and even to think how you hurt others if you do certain things.

    Oprah: Like fool around?

    Camille: Or anything that is selfish. You go through a transition, if you are committed to each other. You cleanse yourself of all of that baggage, and you look at each other and determine whether the relationship is worth salvaging, whether you really love each other and want to be together. Then you realize, “Wait a minute. I might have been doing this because I just didn’t want to think about how this would affect the other person or to allow myself to love someone with emotional intimacy.”

    If the “selfish behavior” Bill Cosby talks about is the same kind of being “focused on selfish needs” that Oprah asked about, what might that mean about Camille Cosby? Oprah specified that Camille and Bill were “both” involved in that behavior. Camille responds that they “were both young”

    And notice that Camille’s answer included allusions to ‘hurting others’ and doing “certain things.” Oprah specifically asked about ‘fooling around,’ and Camille did not deny that.

    Might it be that Camille Cosby herself had also had an affair during the first ten years of her marriage to Bill Cosby?

  • Camille Cosby: Did Bill Ever Offer Her Quaaludes?

    Camille Cosby has remained mostly silent in the months that her husband has been under suspicion and accusation of drugging and raping women. The Cosbys have let their attorneys do most of the talking on the matter.

    Camille Cosby has been portrayed as a major driving force behind her husband’s success, and does serve as his manager. Tabloid reports based on unnamed “inside sources” say that Camille Cosby is not willing to let her husband’s reputation and career go down without a fight. They say she is circling the wagons, consulting with managers and attorneys about how to handle the scandal that threatens to derail Bill Cosby’s legacy permanently.

    “The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you all knew through his work,” Camille Cosby has assured the public. “He is a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father and friend. He is the man you thought you knew.”

    Ever since her statement that included those words above, Camille Cosby has been silent, as has Bill. That silence, and the weight of so many women now coming forward to accuse Bill Cosby, has left onlookers to dig around for other clues, especially from the past.

    The recently-released deposition excerpts are one such clue. Cosby’s legal team fought hard to keep that deposition sealed as part of a confidentiality agreement between Cosby and Andrea Constand, with whom he settled a civil suit. Constand argued that Cosby’s comments in the deposition should be released. When they were, the media and the public were shocked to learn that Bill Cosby had admitted to cheating, admitted to paying to keep affairs quiet, admitted to hiding them from his wife, and — most curiously — admitted to using Quaaludes for sex with other women.

    Camille Cosby, so Bill says in the deposition, was intentionally kept in the dark about all this. He would tell her he was helping someone out with her education, when in fact he admitted he was buying her silence after having had sex with her.

    Cosby’s attorneys now argue that his admission of using Quaaludes is in no way an admission to drugging women. Indeed, Cosby was asked about that at the time of the deposition, and was instructed by his attorneys to not answer. The lawyers pointed out many had used Quaaludes in the 70s for consensual sex. They said Cosby was one of those people.

    This line of argument does raise an interesting question:

    Did Bill Cosby ever offer or suggest Quaaludes to Camille?

    In one oddly-prescient scene in an episode of The Cosby Show, Cosby’s character Heathcliff Huxtable flirts with his on-screen wife, Clair, offering her an aphrodisiac barbecue sauce. Clair is often said to be based on Camille Cosby.

    If Camille Cosby were to say publicly that she and Bill had used Quaaludes recreationally for consensual sex, might that color the opinion of those who have seen that deposition as damning?

    Camille Cosby has said that her greatest embarrassment over a cheating scandal Bill was embroiled in back in 1997 was that the public found out.

    “It was embarrassing in terms of it being an invasion of our private lives,” Camille told Oprah. “That was something very personal, between the two of us… I already knew, but it wasn’t for the whole world to know.”

    Whether she is willing to say much of anything about all this, especially if it requires any more personal revelations, remains to be seen.

  • Camille Cosby: ‘An Invasion of Our Private Lives’

    Camille Cosby has become the focus of much interest in the weeks and months since news of allegations against Bill Cosby broke. While there has been no credible accusation that Camille Cosby is in any way complicit in any allegations against her husband, folks do want to get a sense of where Camille stands in all this.

    Perhaps she might offer a clue as to whether these allegations are true?

    Might her response to the contents of Bill Cosby’s recently-unearthed deposition help shed some light on who he really is or may be?

    An important thing to consider is that this is not the first time Camille Cosby has had to weather out a public scandal at her husband’s side. In 1997, right after news of the tragic killing of their son Ennis, news also broke that Bill Cosby had been making payments since the 1970s to a woman who may or may not have been the mother of his child.

    The whole thing became public because the child, one Autumn Jackson, attempted to extort even more money from Cosby. He called in his lawyers; they called the FBI; the girl was arrested.

    The true paternity of Autumn Jackson was never determined, but it did tell the public that Bill Cosby had cheated on Camille.

    Camille Cosby gave an interview to Oprah Winfrey in the May 2000 issue of Oprah Magazine. In that interview, Camille talked candidly with Oprah about that time, the loss of her son, and how she and Bill dealt with his infidelity. Her reactions at the time may shed some light on her statements — and silences — now.

    Oprah asked Camille Cosby when she had learned about Bill’s affair with Autumn Jackson’s mother.

    “Oh, years ago,” Camille replied. “Back in the seventies, I knew about that.”

    Camille said she encouraged Bill to go through with a paternity test, otherwise “Autumn Jackson and her cohorts could continue with their story.”

    Jackson ended up refusing to submit to the test herself, so paternity was never determined. But the news of the affair was out. It is Camille Cosby’s reaction to that becoming public that may be revealing. She said she was embarrassed, but not about Bill’s cheating.

    “It was embarrassing in terms of it being an invasion of our private lives. That was something very personal, between the two of us… I already knew, but it wasn’t for the whole world to know.”

    Camille Cosby has said that honesty and integrity are of major importance to her, but she has also had to circle the wagons for her family more than once. Perhaps she sees this scandal as a threat to her family unit, regardless of whether the truth behind it might mean that her own husband is not a man of integrity? Perhaps family is more important to her to defend than her concern about Bill himself?

    The question is, if the allegations are true: Does she feel all these women deserve justice … or will she go on characterizing her husband as the victim?

  • Camille Cosby Knew About Bill’s Cheating in the 90s

    Camille Cosby is rumored to be a major force in the success of her husband’s career. Bill Cosby and Camille were married in 1964. They have had five children together. Now, after information revealed in a deposition Bill Cosby gave 10 years ago, we learn that Camille knew about Bill Cosby’s philandering as far back as 1997.

    Ever since the Cosby rape allegations scandal broke into wider news, Camille Cosby has said little publicly about it. Most news has come from second-hand “insider” sources, which may not be reliable.

    What Camille Cosby has said seems now to be an attempt to salvage a career and reputation — not her own, but Bill’s.

    “The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you all knew through his work,” Camille said. “He is a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father and friend. He is the man you thought you knew.”

    But the new information, direct from Bill Cosby’s own statements in deposition paints a picture of a man who not only pursued other women, but went to great lengths to hide it from Camille.

    Bill Cosby said he paid money to keep women quiet, to keep news of his affairs out of the press, and to keep employees making the payments quiet. How did he hide all this from Camille?

    In the case of Andrea Constand, one of the women accusing Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her, he said he told Camille he was helping her.

    Cosby said, “I would say to [Camille] that here is a person I would like to help. My wife would not know it was because Andrea and I had had sex and that Andrea was now very, very upset and that she decided that she would like to go to school.”

    Other things Bill Cosby said in his deposition run afoul of Camille Cosby’s insistence that he is “the man you thought you knew.”

    “I think that I’m a pretty decent reader of people and their emotions in these romantic sexual things, whatever you want to call them,” Cosby said of his seduction skills with women.

    He admitted to asking one woman about her father’s cancer, just to ingratiate himself to her so she would have sex with him.

    It would be one thing if we were given a picture of an “open marriage” between Bill and Camille Cosby. That would be their business. But there is an effort to preserve the reputation of Cosby as a family man. His admission of hiding affairs from his wife by paying out money and misleading her about why it was paid, paints a very different picture.

    And it now seems that Camille Cosby knows at least some of this.

    Why does any of this matter? If there is no proof of drugging and assault now, shy should anyone care if Bill Cosby cheats on his wife, or if Camille knows about it and denies it to the public?

    Because, as an attorney might say, “it goes to character.” Bill Cosby and Camille are using his reputation as their defense against these allegations. ‘You know him,’ Camille insists. ‘He is the man you thought you knew.’ But now we see from Cosby’s own words — words he tried hard to keep sealed — that we did not know him.

    The question now is: What else might he have done that we did not know?

    Or, as Whoopi Goldberg put it:

    “All the evidence out there kind of points to guilt… It looks bad, Bill. Either speak up or shut up, because people know now there is a lot more out there than they thought.”

  • Bill Cosby: Raven-Symoné Ready To Join Whoopi Goldberg?

    Raven-Symoné was only three years old when she was cast on The Cosby Show. Now, over 25 years later, Raven-Symoné has been conflicted about the allegations of rape against Bill Cosby.

    For the longest time, Raven-Symoné said nothing about the Cosby scandal. The only time she spoke of it publicly was when rumors surfaced that Bill Cosby may have molested her way back then. Raven-Symoné angrily posted to Instagram:

    “I was NOT tak[en] advantage of by Mr. Cosby when I was on the Cosby Show. I was practically a baby on that show and this is truly a disgusting rumor that I want no part of! Everyone on that show treated me with nothing but kindness. Now keep me out of this!”

    On the July 7 episode of The View, Raven-Symoné, who is co-host of the show, finally spoke about the Bill Cosby scandal.

    “I don’t really like to talk about it that much because he’s the reason I’m on this panel in the first place. He gave me my first job,” Raven-Symoné said. “But at the same time, you need the proof, and then I’ll be able to give my judgment here or there. And now there are real facts. More people can come up.”

    Raven-Symoné’s co-host on The View, Whoopi Goldberg, staunchly defended Bill Cosby’s right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Now she seems to be backing off that stance, faced with the knowledge that it is conceivable that Cosby’s accusers may not be able to take their allegations to court due to statutes of limitation in the cases.

    “That’s a shock to me,” Goldberg said. “Because I always thought that if you could take somebody to court then you could have the accuser say, ‘That’s who did it, this is what it is,’ but you’re saying that all that is left to these women is the court of public opinion.”

    Faced with the explanation of statutes of limitation, as well as the damning testimony from Cosby’s now-unearthed deposition in which he admits to buying Quaaludes for sex with women, Goldberg admitted, ” All the evidence out there kind of points to guilt.”

    Goldberg another comment at Bill Cosby himself:

    “It looks bad, Bill. Either speak up or shut up, because people know now there is a lot more out there than they thought.”

    In an upcoming issue of People Magazine, Raven-Symoné still has a wait-and-see attitude.

    “Everybody has their opinion on [the scandal],” Raven-Symoné says. “As a co-worker and someone who admires people’s work … I choose my words [carefully]. [But] I’m sure it hasn’t even scratched the surface. So, we will see what happens.”

  • Camille Cosby May Have Reasons for Her Silence?

    Camille Cosby has caught plenty of her own press over the months since the drugging and rape allegations against her husband Bill Cosby surfaced. Before that time, most people probably couldn’t have told you the name of Bill Cosby’s wife.

    Cosby would occasionally refer to Camille in his standup routines. He would joke about how they had so many kids because Camille was Catholic and couldn’t use birth control. But other than the occasional mention, philanthropic effort, or society page nod, Camille Cosby was a behind-the-scenes player.

    Lately, “insider sources” who claim to be close to the Cosby family say that Camille is more involved in the business of her husband’s career than most think.

    “I created him, I knew what I was getting and we’ll fix this,” one insider says Camille told a group of advisors gathered in the Cosby home.

    While Camille’s early denials about the allegations against Cosby led many to believe that he may have had her just as hoodwinked as the rest of the world, that all changed last week. When a deposition was uncovered that featured Bill Cosby’s own admission that he procured Quaaludes for women he wanted to have sex with — but stopped short of saying he used those to drug them unwillingly — many thought that Camille Cosby would abandon her husband’s camp. After all, he was admitting cheating on her.

    But there is no sign that Camille is backing down. Her silence, as well as the rumors from “insiders” seems to indicate that she knows Bill Cosby fools around, but either doesn’t care or has made her own “deal with the Devil” for her own reasons.

    Another insider says, “Camille still doesn’t believe that Bill provided drugs and had sex with women without their consent. She’s well aware of his cheating, but she doesn’t believe that her husband is a rapist.”

    This source also says Camille confided in him/her that, “You have to allow for space to let your partner do what he wants. I have done that and [Bill] has done that and there’s no jealously, no friction.”

    Even if any of this is true, does it make Camille Cosby a bad person?

    Could it be that she may have reasons, perhaps family, for holding out to the bitter end?

    Might she have a chance to break from behind Bill Cosby, as Whoopi Goldberg has, and write her own book or get loads of support?

    For now, Camille Cosby is quiet. Those questions will have to wait.

  • Bill Cosby Gets Hinted Diss From Obama, But Still Keeps Medal of Freedom

    Bill Cosby was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. Now some people say President BArack Obama should take it back.

    A petition asking President Obama to revoke Bill Cosby’s Presidential Medal of Freedom has gotten tons of support, even from within Congress. Senator Kristen Gillibrand has added her voice to the effort.

    “The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest award bestowed on civilians for their contributions to society. Bill Cosby does not deserve to be on the list of distinguished recipients,” the petition asserts.

    Senator Gillibrand spoke up about the allegations against Bill Cosby, urging the President to heed the wishes of the 5,000+ signatories of the petition, especially after testimony from Cosby that he procured Quaaludes for purposes of sex with women.

    “Kirsten has always advocated for listening to survivors’ voices. This 10-year-old admission is appalling, but sadly not surprising considering that dozens of women have been speaking out,” Glen Caplin, spokesperson for Senator Gillibrand spokesperson said.

    “She supports this group’s effort because we need to set a clear example that sexual assault will not be tolerated in this country, and someone who admitted to using drugs for sex no longer deserves the nation’s highest honor.”

    However, when asked about the effort to revoke Cosby’s medal, President Obama said there is no precedent for doing so, nor is there any existing process. While the President did not comment on Cosby’s situation by name, he did speak in general terms about the matter.

    “I’ll say this. If you give a woman — or a man, for that matter — without his or her knowledge a drug, and then have sex with that person without consent, that’s rape. And I think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape.”

    Some see the President’s words as a veiled admission that he too sees Cosby as guilty, even though the allegations may have escaped court.

  • Whoopi Goldberg Stops Backing Bill Cosby. Here’s What She Learned.

    Whoopi Goldberg may be softening her once-hard stance about Bill Cosby. After duking it out with fans and viewers of The View for months, the host sat down to learn a little more about the whole Cosby mess.

    Whoopi Goldberg broke from the usual format of The View to have a one-on-one discussion with Dan Abrams, ABC News’ chief legal affairs anchor, about what the Cosby scandal.

    “I’ve been taking a lot of heat for various reasons,” Goldberg told her guest.

    In past episodes, Whoopi has said she has gotten a lot of hate for her insistence that Bill Cosby is innocent until proven guilty, just like every other accused person in the United States.

    “People have been coming after me and saying they’re going to snatch my family,” Goldberg said on one episode of The View. “It’s like being Frankenstein, people coming after you with the fire and they’re going to burn you.”

    Goldberg had held fast to her stance that, even if Bill Cosby is guilty, he should not be assumed as such until there has been a trial.

    “Not any of you threatening me or telling me you’re coming after me because you don’t like what I said is going to change the fact that no one has convicted him, he has not been arrested,” said Goldberg. “The bottom line is, that’s the law. Innocent until proven guilty.”

    Judd Apatow mentioned Goldberg by name as a holdout in the public opinion verdict against Cosby.

    “I think Whoopi Goldberg is trying to be a loyal friend,” Apatow tweeted. “It is sad that Bill Cosby is so sick that he puts his friends in that position.”

    But after her conversation with Abrams, who explained to Goldberg why someone could conceivably get away with drugging and raping women for decades, things seemed to shift. One such revelation was about the statute of limitations on rapes in the states these are alleged to have happened. In essence, the timer ran out on these women being able to charge Bill Cosby with any allegations.

    “I always thought that rape cases were open-ended,” Whoopi Goldberg responded.

    “That’s a shock to me,” Goldberg said. “Because I always thought that if you could take somebody to court then you could have the accuser say, ‘That’s who did it, this is what it is,’ but you’re saying that all that is left to these women is the court of public opinion.”

    Faced with the explanation of statutes of limitation, as well as the damning testimony from Cosby’s now-unearthed deposition in which he admits to buying Quaaludes for sex with women, Goldberg admitted, ” All the evidence out there kind of points to guilt.”

    Goldberg concluded with a statement directed at Bill Cosby himself:

    “It looks bad, Bill. Either speak up or shut up, because people know now there is a lot more out there than they thought.”

  • Judd Apatow Calls Out Cosby Holdouts After Quaaludes News

    Judd Apatow has been outspoken about the mess Bill Cosby finds himself in lately. Many people have opinions about what is going on with Cosby, but Apatow says it’s time to stop questioning Cosby’s accusers. Time for benefit of the doubt has run out.

    “I just kept noticing that no one else was saying that this was a bad thing,” said on the Today show. “I would have loved to not talk about it. It’s incredibly sad. It’s one of the most tragic things that’s happened in our business, and I think we do have to stand up for the women and say that we believe you.”

    In America, we do have a rule of justice that a person is innocent until proven guilty, but many believe that the women who accuse Cosby of drugging and raping them have not been properly heard. Besides, there are so many of them from so far back who have very similar stories.

    “We should all be very hesitant about getting involved in anything,” Judd Apatow said. “But when it’s 40 people [making accusations], it certainly is time for everybody to wake up and say we should be concerned about the women.”

    When revelations hit last week that Bill Cosby had admitted to procuring Quaaludes for women he intended to have sex with, Judd Apatow had heard enough.

    “A lot of people got terribly hurt,” Apatow said. “And you know, when you go out on a date you don’t need seven prescriptions for Quaaludes. I’m in show business. Famous people can meet women without the enormous prescriptions.”

    Bill Cosby’s wife Camille Cosby apparently does not like the line of reasoning Judd Apatow follows. According to sources claiming to be close to the Cosbys:

    “Camille still doesn’t believe that Bill provided drugs and had sex with women without their consent. She’s well aware of his cheating, but she doesn’t believe that her husband is a rapist.”

    These sources say Camille Cosby is not about to back down from supporting her husband.

    Camille Cosby is “a proud, dignified but stubborn woman. You can say that she’s standing by her husband, but really, the more people stand against him, the more she perceives it as an affront to her and all that she’s done to make him a star,”

  • Camille Cosby Reportedly Working Hard to Salvage Bill’s Career In Face of Accusations

    Camille Cosby Reportedly Working Hard to Salvage Bill’s Career In Face of Accusations

    While Camille Cosby herself has not said much about the situation her husband finds himself in, there are others coming forward with “insider info” that they claim comes from Camille.

    Camille Cosby spoke out when the rape allegations agains Bill Cosby first happened. But what she said was somewhat open to interpretation. At first, it seemed like a denial, framing Cosby as the victim of opportunist accusations. But upon further reading, it looks like she may have been trying to convince people that Bill Cosby simply is who he always was.

    Insider sources now say that Camille Cosby is meeting with advisors and trying her best to salvage her husbands career and income, if not his legacy.

    The two sources cited by the New York Post are a) a “family” source reportedly employed by the Cosby’s and b) a “business” source described as a partner.

    The family source speaks more about what they think Camille Cosby’s thoughts are on the whole matter.

    “Camille still doesn’t believe that Bill provided drugs and had sex with women without their consent,” the employee said. “She’s well aware of his cheating, but she doesn’t believe that her husband is a rapist.”

    Camille. Cosby is “a proud, dignified but stubborn woman. You can say that she’s standing by her husband, but really, the more people stand against him, the more she perceives it as an affront to her and all that she’s done to make him a star.”

    This source says Camille confided in him/her that, “You have to allow for space to let your partner do what he wants. I have done that and [Bill] has done that and there’s no jealously, no friction.”

    The business partner source reportedly sees things from behind the scenes.

    “I created him, I knew what I was getting and we’ll fix this,” the partner says Camille Cosby told associates at a meeting in their home.

    “They are making him out to be such a bad guy, a monster,” Camille reportedly said.

    Ironically, this business source says Camille was advised by someone else in attendance at this meeting to “close ranks,” cutting off associates they may not be able to trust.

    “That means family, Hollywood family, friends, Hollywood friends.”

    When that very recommendation is leaked, the Cosby’s do indeed have a problem.

  • Jill Scott Voices Support for Bill Cosby, Debates on Twitter

    Actress and singer-songwriter Jill Scott is under fire for voicing her support for Bill Cosby who continues to have rape allegations stack up against him.

    The argument started when the 42-year-old was asked to sign and share a petition on Twitter to support Temple University severing its ties with Cosby. Scott, who holds an honorary doctorate from Temple, shot back on the social media outlet.

    In response to a follower who called her out, Scott replied, “@SimplyBerry u know Bill Cosby? I do child and this is insane. Proof. Period.”

    Scott also stated that she has “learned not to believe too much without proof, especially about someone whose done so much for our greater good.”

    But once the ball got rolling, more and more Twitter followers chimed in with statements such as “so because you know him he can’t do any wrong?” and “I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the accounts of 20 women with extremely similar tales.” In fact, Scott was hit from all sides including women who previously saw her as a “soldier for women.” However, Scott claimed that she wasn’t taking sides but is in fact looking for “substantiated proof when media/society is attempting to destroy a magnificent Legacy.”

    Cosby has been accused of sexually assaulting as many as 20 women since the 1960s. Although Cosby has not addressed these allegations, TV Land has dropped all reruns of The Cosby Show and Netflix has pulled Bill Cosby 77 from the previously-planned Thanksgiving release.

    Soon after Scott’s Twitter interactions started she dropped out and deleted the posts, but not before she left a piece of advice.

    “Rape is a despicable, cowardly crime,” she Tweeted. “If you’ve been raped- plz do NOT shower, go to police IMMEDIATELY, have a rap kit done. GET EVIDENCE.”

    Cosby presented Scott with her honorary degree from Temple. He also holds a Temple degree of his own. But on Monday, most likely to the delight of the Twitter followers, the 77-year-old comedian resigned from the school’s board of trustees.

    Scott replied to this as well by Tweeting, “So they’ve proven the alleged allegations? I didn’t know. Will they also be giving him back the millions he’s donated?”

  • Bill Cosby Steps Down from University Board Amid Rape Allegations

    Bill Cosby has been been member of the Temple University Board of Trustees for 32 years. But now, amid allegations of sexual misconduct and rape, Cosby has stepped down.

    “I have always been proud of my association with Temple University,” Cosby said. “I have always wanted to do what would be in the best interests of the university and its students. As a result, I have tendered my resignation from the Temple University Board of Trustees.”

    Cosby attended Temple University in his younger days, and even played football for the university. He did not graduate, but left when his comedy career took off. He has supported Temple for many years, including funding a scholarship there with his wife, Camille.

    For their part, Temple issued a short statement accepting Cosby’s resignation.

    “The Board of Trustees accepts Dr. Cosby’s resignation from the board and thanks him for his service to the university,” the statement said.

    One of Cosby’s attorneys, Patrick O’Connor, said Cosby made the choice in an effort to protect Temple from the mess he currently finds himself in.

    “He didn’t want his personal issue to detract from his service to Temple,” O’Connor said. “He was a great trustee. I thanked him for his service.” O’Connor added, “He didn’t comment on the allegations (Monday). They were from (as long as) 50 years ago.”

    O’Connor is currently the chairman of Temple’s Board of Trustees.

    Temple alum Kerry McCormick started an online petition to pressure Temple to sever its ties with Cosby. Her petition had gotten just under 1,100 of its 1,500 signature goal when Cosby separated himself form the Board. She criticized Temple for not separating itself from Cosby when the allegations first surfaced in 2005, especially since O’Connor represented Cosby in one of those cases.

    Her statement to Temple reads:

    Bill Cosby, alleged rapist of at least 15 women, including a former Temple University employee, continues to be a trustee of Temple University. He spoke at the 2014 Temple University commencement. As recently as August of this year, he was honored by Temple.

    It’s time for Temple to recognize that continuing its relationship with Bill Cosby is damaging to its own reputation, as well as its students, employees and alumni. It’s time for Temple University to sever its ties with this man. Temple should not be the last organization to end its relationship with Bill Cosby – it should have happened in 2005 when the allegations against him first began to surface.

    I’m a Temple alum and I want to be able to be proud of my alma mater once again. Please sign my petition to join me in asking Temple to permanently end their relationship with Bill Cosby.

  • Michelle Hurd: What Will Bill Cosby’s Wife Think of This New Allegation?

    Michelle Hurd has a story that Bill Cosby’s wife might not be too keen on hearing.

    Michelle Hurd is best known for her roles on Law & Order: SVU and Gossip Girl. But “back in the day” she did stand-in work on The Cosby Show. It was there that she says she had a rather unpleasant experience with Bill Cosby. An experience that she believes Bill Cosby’s wife would rather not know about.

    A stand-in never appears on camera, but is used for testing lighting levels and other purposes. They are chosen because they are of similar height, skin color, and other features as an actor in a film or show. In the movie Love, Actually, Martin Freeman and Joanna Page were featured in one of the parallel story lines as stand-ins on a film set for a sex scene. Their story thread is usually cut entirely from televised versions of the film because they are both naked much of the time.

    Michelle Hurd posted to her Facebook page about how she says Cosby acted around her then, including an experience of a fellow stand-in who allegedly was drugged and awoke to find herself naked. She would not name the other actress.

    Hurd also said that Cosby would touch her up and down her body, and then admonish her not to tell anyone.

    Bill Cosby‘s wife, Dr. Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, has stood quietly by her husband during this latest round of allegations from multiple women. Another recent story that surfaced from Lou Ferrigno’s wife said that Camille Cosby was in the house when her incident occurred. She said Cosby’s wife had gone to bed, leaving Cosby alone with her. She said he then grabbed her violently and kissed her. She ran from him, but recently related the incident.

    More women have been coming forward with stories of unwelcome touching or even rape that are hazy, admittedly old, and certainly past and statute of limitations. But they say they want to add credence to the stories of the women that have already come forward, lest they be swept under the rug again.

    Michelle Hurd’s post was reproduced by the Daily Mail.

    “I did stand-in work on The Cosby show back in the day and YES, Bill Cosby was VERY inappropriate with me. It started innocently, lunch in his dressing room, daily, then onto weird acting exercises were he would move his hands up and down my body, (can’t believe I fell for that) I was instructed to NEVER tell anyone what we did together, (he said other actors would become jealous) and then fortunately, I dodged the ultimate bullet with him when he asked me to come to his house, take a shower so we could blow dry my hair and see what it looked like straightened. At that point my own red flags went off and I told him, “No, I’ll just come to work tomorrow with my hair straightened”. I then started to take notice and found another actress, a stand-in as well, and we started talking… A LOT… turns out he was doing the same thing to her, almost by the numbers, BUT, she did go to his house and because I will not name her, and it is her story to tell, all I’ll say is she awoke, after being drugged, vomited, and then Cosby told her there’s a cab waiting for you outside.”

  • 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.

  • Bill Cosby Issues Statements on Rape Allegations as New Accuser Comes Forward

    After weeks of silence, Bill Cosby’s reps issued a pair of statements about rape allegations against him. The allegations all seem to go back years, and all of them are likely too old to fall within a statute of limitations and be prosecutable if they were found to be true. But the inconvenience to Cosby, at minimum, and likely damage to his reputation, are still an issue.

    The first statement appeared on Cosby’s website on Sunday:

    “Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment. He would like to thank all his fans for the outpouring of support and assure them that, at age 77, he is doing his best work. There will be no further statement from Mr. Cosby or any of his representatives.”

    That statement has since been deleted from Cosby’s site. It was replaced with another that clarified the first.

    “Joint statement from Dolores Troiani, counsel to Andrea Constand, and John P. Schmitt, counsel to Bill Cosby.

    “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. Neither Mr. Cosby nor Ms. Constand intends to comment further on the matter.”

    But whether he intends to comment on it or not, that may still not be the end for Cosby. A new accuser has come forward.

    Hollywood Elsewhere released a statement from one Joan Tarshis, described as a “former actress, music industry publicist and journalist.” She extensively described multiple alleged encounters with Cosby.

    “I was 19 years old in autumn of 1969 …”

    “…The next thing I remember was coming to on his couch while being undressed. Through the haze I thought I was being clever when I told him I had an infection and he would catch it and his wife would know he had sex with someone. But he just found another orifice to use. 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.”

    She also described a second separate alleged incident.

    “I remember noticing that his leather shaving kit was filled with bottles of pills, and thinking that this seemed odd. He was, of course, very friendly and I, of course, was very uncomfortable. He made me a [drink], and I, being nervous and dealing at the time with an alcohol problem (I’ve been in recovery since 1988), drank it. In the car I had something else to drink, but was already beginning to feel a bit stoned…

    “I remember feeling very, very stoned and asking his chauffeur to take me back to the car. I was having trouble standing up. The next thing I remember was waking up in his bed back at the [hotel], naked.”

  • Bill Cosby Bails on Latifah Show. Does Rape Scandal Have Him Spooked?

    Things could turn sour for Bill Cosby. After getting called out by Hannibal Burress for accusations that Cosby has raped multiple women, the news cycles were not kind to Cosby.

    “Bill Cosby has the f—ing smuggest old black man public persona that I hate,” Buress said. “He just gets on TV — ‘Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the ’80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom.’ Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby. So, brings you down a couple notches.”

    This week, TMZ ran with a story titled “Queen Latifah — CANCELS Bill Cosby Interview … After Rape Allegations Resurface.”

    According to TMZ, Cosby was slated to appear on Latifah’s daytime talk show to promote his current standup comedy tour. But “production sources” told TMZ that Latifah did not need the negative attention in the wake of Cosby’s latest “rape” scandal, so they pulled the plug on him.

    Shortly thereafter, TMZ updated their story with news that a Queen Latifah “show spokesperson” told them that “Cosby’s scheduled appearance on The Queen Latifah Show was postponed at his request.”

    But the suspicion is in the wind. And some think that, despite years of allegations and lawsuits from women against Cosby, this time the stigma might stick. Why? Because a man — a famous man — is telling the world to pay attention to those women. And he wasn’t just cracking a joke. He invited his audience, and the rest of us, to check his story.

    “If you didn’t know about it, trust me,” Burress said. “When you leave here, Google ‘Bill Cosby rape.’ It’s not funny.”

    As Wonkette puts it:

    “America seemed to be taking the women’s accusations with a grain of salt until a man said, essentially, ‘No, for real, listen to them.’”

  • Bill Cosby Rape Allegations: News Reports Wrong; There Was No Tell-All Book About Rapes

    Comedian Hannibal Buress recently stirred the pot pretty boldly about Bill Cosby. Buress riffed on a topic that has actually been around since 2005: Is Bill Cosby a rapist?

    “Thirteen [women accusing Cosby]? It’s even worse because Bill Cosby has the fucking smuggest old black man public persona that I hate. He gets on TV, ‘Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the 80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom.’ Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches.

    “If you didn’t know about it trust me. When you leave here, Google ‘Bill Cosby rape.’ It’s not funny.”

    About a dozen women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct over the years. Some say they were drugged in some way. But none of it ever sticks. Police have declined to charge Cosby, citing lack of evidence.

    According to a lengthy Snopes article on the topic, there is no definitive answer about whether the accusations against Cosby are true, but it is a fact that he has not been charged or convicted with these crimes. There was one lawsuit that was settled privately, with the terms not being disclosed.

    A growing number of reports lately state or infer that 13 women came forward in to share their accusations in a book called Cosby: His Life and Times. Some state that the book was written in 2004. But these commonly-reported “factoids” have some major problems.

    A search of Amazon shows a book by that title by Mark Whitaker. It was published this year. Within it, Cosby is hailed as a hero who has positively influenced generations of Americans. He does discuss an affair Cosby had, which led to an extortion scandal, but there is actually no mention of rape allegations.

    In fact a couple of Amazon reviewers point out the exclusion of the assault story.

    “Whitaker chooses not to bring up a sexual assault allegation leveled against Cosby a decade ago by a woman who claimed he attacked her in his home after being given pills.”

    “Does not mention that 13 women accused him of rape and he settled out of court in 2006. Two women came forward after the statue of limitations was over and made accusations. Not mentioned in the book. Not one little bit.”

    This is the only book by that title that comes up in searches. Other than multiple mentions of it in recent articles, there is no evidence that “13 women” came forward to tell their story for it.

    Finally, Mark Whitaker himself was asked why he did not include the story of these allegations.

    “In these cases, there were no definitive court findings, there were no independent witnesses, and I just felt, at the end of the day, all I would be doing would be, you know, ‘These people say this, Cosby denies it.’ And as not only a reporter but his biographer, if people asked me, ‘Well, what’s the truth? What do you think?’ I’d be in a position of saying, ‘I don’t know.’”

    Perhaps the prevalence of mentions of a “book from 2004” with “13 women” accusing Cosby is a result of a typo, bad editing, and sloppy research. But the echo chamber of one blog after another copying and pasting info from each other is spreading misinformation.

    Now, if only Bill Cosby would speak up and set the record straight.