Finally breaking his silence amidst a scandal in which at least 16 women have come forward with rape allegations, actor and comedian Bill Cosby spoke to a Florida newspaper about why he has chosen to remain quiet on the issue.
TV Land has cancelled reruns of The Cosby Show, Netflix has delayed his Thanksgiving Day special and NBC has dropped the pilot of a new family comedy, but Bill Cosby’s Florida performance proceeded as planned in front of a packed house this week.
The 77-year-old iconic actor has faced snowballing allegations from as many as 16 women of sexual assault and rape over a course of several decades. The news didn’t seem to bother the audience at the show, however, as Cosby received standing ovations several times during his set.
After the show, Cosby sat down with a Florida Today reporter and addressed the allegations for the first time.
“I know people are tired of me not saying anything,” Cosby said. “But a guy doesn’t have to respond to innuendos. People should fact check. People shouldn’t have to go through that and shouldn’t answer to innuendos.”
Cosby’s attorney Martin Singer blasted the growing reports as nonsense in a lengthy statement released this week.
“The new, never-before-heard claims from women who have come forward in the past two weeks with unsubstantiated, fantastical stories about things they say occurred 30, 40, or even 50 years ago have escalated far past the point of absurdity.
“These brand new claims about alleged decades-old events are becoming increasingly ridiculous, and it is completely illogical that so many people would have said nothing, done nothing, and made no reports to law enforcement or asserted civil claims if they thought they had been assaulted over a span of so many years,” the statement said.
Singer also blasted the media for not corroborating the claims.
“Over and over again, we have refuted these new unsubstantiated stories with documentary evidence, only to have a new uncorroborated story crop up out out of the woodwork. When will it end? It’s long past time for this media vilification of Mr. Cosby to stop,” Singer said.
Prior to the Florida show, a radio show had apparently offered prizes to audience members who would heckle Cosby during his set. Cosby also addressed this situation in his backstage interview.
“The thing is, these people are prodding and pushing people and asking people to have a frat house mentality,” Cosby said. “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.”
There were several peaceful protestors on hand outside of the show, with one holding a sign that said “Rape is No Joke.”
The next morning, TMZ broke a story from a woman who had allegations against Cosby. However, she claims that she was assaulted by a friend of his.
Joyce Emmon, an old friend of Cosby, told TMZ that Cosby had once given her a white pill that was supposed to help with a migraine. When she woke up the next morning with a friend of Cosby’s and no recollection of the night before, Emmon confronted Cosby.
Cosby assured her that “it was just a Quaalude.” Emmon told TMZ that she had seen a “drawerful” of drugs in Cosby’s hotel room, and although she never saw him use them, she did see others who did.
Then on Sunday morning, a former NBC employee and friend of Cosby, Frank Scotti, told the New York Daily News that he had acted as a “fixer” for Cosby for many years, paying off the women that Cosby had slept with.
Scotti says that he helped Cosby pay thousands of dollars to eight women in the 1980s. Scotti provided copies of the money orders Cosby sent to the women.
“I did a lot of crazy things for him,” Scotti said. “He was covering himself by having my name on it. It was a coverup. I realized it later.”
Five of the sixteen women who have publicly come forward with allegations against Cosby gave explosive interviews to The Washington Post, including a former Playboy playmate who had never spoken about her experiences before.
The firestorm of accusations against Cosby became mainstream news after comedian Hannibal Buress recently told the audience at one of his shows to Google “Bill Cosby rapist.” The video of Buress’ performance quickly went viral, leaving Cosby in the headlines ever since.
As of this weekend, six of Cosby’s performances have been cancelled, including a November 28 show at Treasure Island in Las Vegas. Cosby has 36 shows scheduled between now and May 2015.
Despite the media scrutiny, Cosby’s show in Florida went off without a hitch.
“A great entertainer can block out everything,” an audience member told Mashable. “It’s sad to hear what’s happening, but tonight he was clean and family-oriented.”
