Comedy legend and beloved father figure, Bill Cosby, has to revisit what had to be a very painful time in his life. Cosby was accused of a string of rapes that occurred during the 1970s through 2004. All of them had striking similarities in testimony from the alleged victims. At least three victims stated that Cosby gave them pills and that they took them willingly out of trust. All of them describe Cosby as taking advantage of them while they were in a drugged state.
These accusations came to a head in 2006 when Cosby was being sued by one of the alleged victims, Andrea Constand. She stated that Cosby drugged and molested her in January 2004 at his Philadelphia home. Constand went to Cosby’s home seeking mentoring on an expected career change. At some point, she alleges she told Cosby that she was feeling stressed about what was going on in her life. That is when Cosby offered her three pills of an herbal medication to reduce stress. After taking the pills, she claims that she was barely conscious and Cosby sexually assaulted her on his sofa. She awoke hours later with her clothes in disarray and Cosby in a bathrobe. She did not report the rape for more than a year later; however, she did sue the comedian.
Her lawsuit charged Cosby with battery, assault, and intentional infliction of emotional distress and sought a minimum of $150,000 in damages for each of the complaints five counts. However, before the trial began there was a shocking development. More women had come forward and claimed that Cosby sexually assaulted them. The lawyers for Constand had a reported 12 witnesses ready to testify that Bill Cosby had raped them. It was then that Cosby made a confidential out-of-court settlement with Constand that included a gag order.
In the latest developments Barbara Bowman, one of Cosby’s alleged victims, has been receiving widespread attention because of her campaign to once again have Cosby answer these allegations. Bowman has appeared on national TV, most recently has written editorials describing her encounters with Cosby, and the subsequent damage the assault had on her personal life. For his part, Cosby has remained silent and has canceled two major TV interviews last week. One interview was for the show “Late Night with David Letterman” and the second was for the “Queen Latifah Show.” There was no explanation given for the cancellations. In addition, Cosby had a disastrous radio interview with NPR hosts Scott Simon. During the interview, Simon asked Cosby pointed questions regarding the allegations. Cosby shook his head refusing to answer any of the questions that Simon asked.
It was announced earlier this year that Cosby would be returning to television in the fall of 2015. NBC announced, that a deal was inked with Cosby for a half hour comedy show. In the show he would play the older father of a black family that had grown over the years. It will remain to see whether the reemergence of these rape accusations will impact the planned production. But in today’s world of social media, it does not look promising. Many people have not forgotten the rape charges against Cosby and they have let him know through social media. As reported by Rolling Out,recently his meme campaign failed disastrously as people created meme dealing with the rape accusations. Theses allegations are going to be hard for potential sponsors and advertisers to ignore.
