Bill Cosby's Lawyer Says he Won't Comment on Sex-Abuse Allegations on Same Day 'Victim' Goes on TV to Claim Media Covered up Scandal
- Bill Cosby's lawyer says he will not address recently rekindled rape allegations
- In 2004, 13 women came forward to accuse the comedian of drugging and raping them. That suit was settled in 2006 for an undisclosed amount
- Attorney John P Scmitt said Sunday that his 77-year-old client will not 'dignify' the accusations with a comment
- Also on Sunday, actress Barbara Bowman appeared on CNN to speak about how Cosby allegedly raped her and how it was covered up
- Comes one day after the comedian went silent and shook his head after being confronted with questions about the case on NPR's Weekend Edition
The Late Show confirmed that Cosby's guest booking for next Wednesday had been cancelled
AP, 16 November 2014
A lawyer for Bill Cosby says the comedian will not dignify 'decade-old, discredited' allegations of sexual abuse with any comment.
In a statement posted online, attorney John P. Schmitt said the fact that the allegations are being repeated does not make them true.
He doesn't intend to 'dignify' the allegations with a comment.
There has been a growing uproar over allegations that Cosby assaulted several women in the past.
No comment: Bill Cosby's lawyer issued a statement on Sunday, saying the 77-year-old comedian would not 'dignify' rape accusations with a comment. Pictured above on November 11, 2014
The comedian was finally confronted with questions about the allegations on Saturday, during an interview on NPR to discuss his collection of African art.
At the end of an interview, the 77-year-old comedian was asked to respond to the resurgence of claims that he attacked multiple women years ago but Cosby went silent.
Sitting beside Cosby and his wife Camille, host Scott Simon said: 'This question gives me no pleasure Mr Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days.
'I'm in the news business. I have to ask the question. Do you have any response to those charges?'
While seconds earlier Cosby had been confidently chatting about the loan of his art for an exhibition in Washington D.C, he immediately stopped speaking.
Instead, he reportedly shook his head and refused to say another word.
Undeterred, Simon prodded:
'There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. I want to give you the chance.' But despite his efforts, Cosby stayed quiet.
Spiraling: Attorney's statement comes one day after Cosby went silent and shook his head when confronted with questions about the sex-abuse allegations by NPR host Scott Simon. Simon, a father of two, later took to Twitter (pictured) to remark on his broaching of the allegations, which seemingly had not been agreed to as a potential topic of conversation prior to the interview
Quote:
A LONG SILENCE: THE END OF SCOTT SIMON'S INTERVIEW WITH BILL COSBY SCOTT SIMON: 'This question gives me no pleasure Mr Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days.'
BILL COSBY: [silence and shaking his head]
SIMON: 'You're shaking your head no. I'm in the news business. I have to ask the question. Do you have any response to those charges?'
COSBY: [silence and shaking his head]
SIMON: 'Shaking your head no. There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. I want to give you the chance.'
COSBY: [silence]
SIMON: 'Alright. Camille and Bill Cosby. They have lent 62 pieces from their collection of African and African American art to create an exhibit called Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue. It's now on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art through early 2016. Thank you both.'
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Cancelled: The interview comes just a day after Cosby's scheduled appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman next week was cancelled. Above, Cosby's last appearance on the show - January 13, 2014
Finally, the 62-year-old presenter concluded: 'Alright. Camille and Bill Cosby. They have lent 62 pieces from their collection of African and African American art to create an exhibit.
'Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue is now on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art through early 2016. Thank you both.'
Although Cosby remained silent, his wife of 50 years could be heard saying 'Thank you' twice.
Simon, a father of two, later took to Twitter to remark on his broaching of the allegations, which seemingly had not been agreed to as a potential topic of conversation prior to the interview.
He tweeted:
'I'll respond to @BillCosby questions later. For moment: Yes, I hated having to ask about charges in front of Mrs Cosby.'
This comes just a day after Cosby's scheduled appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman next week was cancelled.
The cancellation meant the comedian has been dropped from a TV lineup twice in a month following his withdrawl from Queen Latifah's talk show in early November.
Decades-old accusations of rape came back to haunt Cosby last month after stand-up comedian and former Saturday Night Live writer Hannibal Buress unleashed a violent tirade about him.
During a live performance, Buress dubbed Cosby a 'rapist' and a sanctimonious hypocrite. A video of the rant quickly spread online, reigniting a fire that has long burned.
It also inspired one alleged victim, Barbara Bowman, to come forward and share her story, claiming she was sexually assaulted by Cosby when she was aged 19.
Quote:
I was drugged and raped by that man. He is a monster. He came at me like a monster
Barbara Bowman, alleged victim
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Telling her story: Earlier this month, one of Cosby's alleged victims, Barbara Bowman (pictured, came forward and shared her story with MailOnline , claiming she was sexually assaulted by the star at 19
Speaking to MailOnline, Bowman alleged:
'I was drugged and raped by that man. He is a monster. He came at me like a monster.
'My hope is that others who have experienced sexual abuse will not be intimidated into silence by the famous, rich and powerful. If I can help one victim, then I've done my job.'
Bowman was just a teenager at the time she met Cosby, and soon the actor was flying her to meet him around the country and putting her up in the nicest hotels, it is alleged.
Things changed, however, when one night she reportedly passed out after a glass of wine and woke up vomiting in the toilet wearing Cosby's white t-shirt.
Bowman is certain that she was drugged by Cosby. And she believes she was raped by him too.
After that her relationship with Cosby changed, and by 19 he had sent her on her way after a final night in Atlantic City, where she claims he tried to rape her.
On Friday, a spokesman for The Late Show confirmed that Cosby's guest booking for next Wednesday had been cancelled. It unclear whether it was Cosby or Letterman that pulled out.
Meanwhile, a representative for Queen Latifah's talk show reported that it was Cosby who withdrew from his spot on October 31.
Allegations of rape were first leveled against Cosby in 2005 in a lawsuit filed by Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee.
The 32-year-old claimed she had been sexually assaulted in the star's Philadelphia mansion in 2004, adding that her suit also contained the testimonies of 13 other women with similar claims.
The suit was settled in 2006 for an undisclosed amount. Bowman has now come forward identifying herself as one of those 13 women.
Under fire: Decades-old rape claims came back to haunt Cosby (pictured giving a Veterans' Day speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday) last month after comedian Hannibal Buress unleashed a violent tirade about him
Clams: During a live performance, Buress dubbed Cosby (pictured) a 'rapist' and a sanctimonious hypocrite
Backfire: On Monday, Cosby invited fans to create memes using a selection of photos of him. However, the idea majorly backfired - his Twitter feed was inundated with memes that referenced the rape claims (pictured)
Cosby has not commented on the allegations and has never been charged with sexual assault.
On Monday, in an apparent attempt to connect with his Twitter followers, Cosby invited fans to create memes using a selection of photos of him.
However, the idea majorly backfired.
Instead, the comedian's Twitter feed was inundated with memes that referenced the rape claims.
Shortly after, Cosby's original tweet was deleted and the meme generator was removed from the site.The link now redirects people to Cosby's homepage.
Cosby has also been receiving criticism in reviews of his new authorized biography on Amazon, by readers who say the book whitewashes the allegations.
Cosby: Life and Times author Mark Whitaker, an ex-editor of Newsweek, told Buzzfeed that he did not include the 2004 case because he 'didn't want to print allegations that I couldn't confirm independently'.
Since the allegations were rekindled last month, reviewers on Amazon have been giving the book negative reviews for glossing over the case.
Glossed over: Bill Cosby's new authorized biography does not address the 13 women who in 2004 came forward to level rape allegations against the comedian
The horrifying accusations are 'not mentioned in the book. Not one little bit. Didn't even happen, 'parently,' according to one user.
In one review, a user asks
'Where are the 13 rape chapters?'
'Cosby ostensibly is an intelligent, witty guy everybody would love to hang around with. Except, of course, if you're a younger, pretty girl who agrees to take drinks, pills, and "pointers" from Bill in private,' the user writes. 'So, while he does have insights and interesting things to say, how can I read a book, chuckling at anecdotes written by a serial rapist?'
User Dana Friedman says Cosby's 'cooperation' with the book made it seem like the author was only telling the comedian's side of the story.
'There were several instances in which Whitaker retold stories from a very one-sided point of view. You could practically hear Cosby dictating it. In more than a few instances in which there were differences of opinion, Whitaker only wrote Cosby's side, without showing much regard for the other point of view,' Friedman, of New York, wrote.
While his new biography does not directly address the rape allegations, it does cover Cosby's past indiscretions, starting in the early 1970s when he would spend half his time on the East Coast with his family, and the other half in Las Vegas, performing stand-up and spending his free time at Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion.
Cosby allegedly cheated on his wife with multiple women, including a 'tall striking brunette' named Shawn Berkes.The two apparently had several 'rendezvous' before Berkes one day showed up to his room at the Hilton and told him he had fathered her then 14-month-old child named Autumn.
In 1997, Autumn Jackson was revealed to the public when she was arrested on extortion charges for trying to get Cosby to pay her $24million co cover up the fact that she was his love child.
'When news of the arrest first broke, Cosby’s spokesmen insisted that he barely knew Jackson,' Whitaker writes. 'They admitted that he had paid for Autumn’s college tuition for a year and set up a fund for other expenses, but they described her as just one of the hundreds of young people Cosby had helped put through school.'
Cosby eventually admitted in a TV interview that there was a 'possibility' Autumn was his child. She was later sentenced to 26 months in jail for the extortion lot.