After what seems like an endless amount of accusations of rape and sexual misconduct dating back decades, embattled comedian and actor Bill Cosby finally made a brief statement while playing to a packed house on Friday, Nov. 21 at a Florida college.
Shortly before the show began, Cosby told newspaper Florida Today the masses should do their due diligence before believing what he calls “innuendos.”
“I know people are tired of me not saying anything,” Cosby said. “But a guy doesn’t have to answer to innuendos. People should fact check. People shouldn’t have to go through that and shouldn’t answer to innuendos.”
What Cosby refers to as “innuendos,” however, is a growing list of accusers, including most recently veteran actress Michelle Hurd, speaking up about alleged instances of Cosby doing everything from inappropriate touching to several allegations of drugging and raping women.
Though Cosby was greeted with a rousing standing ovation at the Florida show, organizers were on edge because a local radio station offered to pay people money to stand and “demand an explanation” regarding the allegations during the show. The venue made an announcement prior to the show encouraging attendees to keep calm if any such incidents occurred but nothing of the sort materialized.
Cosby told Florida Today he thinks the radio station promotion was dangerous:
“The thing is, these people are prodding and pushing people and asking people to have a frat house mentality. Now suppose someone brings a weapon or decided to do more foolishness. There will be announcements made and the stations made some disclaimers, but what if people don’t listen to what they said and they entice violence. That’s not good for anyone. When you go to a civil rights march or something like that, at least there are meetings and some organization to it and people understand how to behave. There may be people coming to the show that don’t know exactly what to do; there is no organization to it all,” he said.
