Bill Cosby Rape Allegations — Page 6

Well at least that ex-NBC employee had the courage to come forward. I'm sure there are way more powerful people in Cosby's circle who witnessed the same kind of thing.
At this point it's Bill Cosby's silence that's the most deafening. He must realize by now his legacy has been destroyed.

"Just a day earlier, the state’s flagship college had said Cosby was remaining in the honorary post. But Wednesday, UMass officials asked Cosby to step down from the capital campaign, and Cosby agreed to do so, according to university spokesman Edward Blaguszewski.

“He no longer has any affiliation with the campaign nor does he serve in any other capacity for the university,” Blaguszewski said in a statement.

Some UMass Amherst students praised the decision.

Diana Ciccolini, a junior who is on the board of the campus organization Isenberg Women in Business, said the group recently had considered inviting Cosby to host a comedy show fund-raiser, “but as soon as we heard of the allegations we had to change our plans.”

“We didn’t feel right associating with that,” Ciccolini said. “I was always proud to say that I went to the same school that Bill Cosby went to and thought it was pretty cool, but I can’t say that anymore. It really is disappointing.”

The announcement by the college followed a call Wednesday by Attorney General Martha Coakley for UMass to end its relationship with Cosby.

“At a time when the state is focused on prevention and response to sexual assaults on campus, allowing Mr. Cosby to continue to represent our state university sends the exact wrong message,” Coakley wrote in a letter to the college."

UMass Amherst cuts ties with Bill Cosby.

Every celebrity crisis of this flavor has its own peculiar element, in this case, the drugging. This is the severe component that pushes this character-revealing debacle over the edge. How can anyone, even absolute idiots parsing "real" rape get past the idea that this man employed nefarious techniques used by 19 year-old frat boys who otherwise couldn't have sex. He carried roofies, used them on numerous occasions. It's a horrific, despicable practice that moves beyond even abuse of (celebrity-entitled) male power. Of course, even without it, the behavior is appalling. Yet the drugging aspect alone screams: this won't go away. Can't go away.

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Updated On: 11/27/14 at 09:02 PM

Apparently Cosby is very smart and very lawyered up. His performance contracts also state that if you cancel the performance, you pay him anyway. I get the feeling with thew wording of these and his sitcom contracts he knew that any day people could start pulling the plug on him.

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Talking about comparing apples to oranges.

It is unusual in that usually, with lesser talent, the ambiguous "morals" clause could be used to invalidate the obligations under the agreement. Conan had no basis to invalidate his agreement. Sounds like Cosby specifically contracted to avoid the consequence of the standard morals clause, which has let studios, sports teams and networks walk away from stars whose behavior they found embarrassing.

"It is unusual in that usually, with lesser talent, the ambiguous "morals" clause could be used to invalidate the obligations under the agreement. Conan had no basis to invalidate his agreement. Sounds like Cosby specifically contracted to avoid the consequence of the standard morals clause, which has let studios, sports teams and networks walk away from stars whose behavior they found embarrassing."

OK, but do we know that most stand-up comedians have a morals clause in their contracts with theaters where they perform? If we're going to assert that he specifically put this in his contract assuming this might happen at some point, then it does seem somewhat relevant to show that Cosby had a contract unique in this regard, no?

It is easy to shape reality to a narrative, but how do we know his contract was different from the same kind they would sign with Louis CK or any other comic performing in these same venues, before we start saying Cosby specifically made sure his contract was bulletproof in case this sort of thing ever happened?

Let's brainstorm what Cos will say:

"It was all a big misunderstanding."

"Women. Are different from men. They get stressed out. They're going Hoooooooo and EEEeeeeee and Yaaaaaaaa. And herbal remedies can help women relax."

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It's just a Mirror report. So, maybe it won't happen.

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"Women. Are different from men. They get stressed out. They're going Hoooooooo and EEEeeeeee and Yaaaaaaaa. And herbal remedies can help women relax."

Reading this in his voice is comedy gold.

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I'm sure if he starts out "Hey, hey HEY!" everything will be okay.

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Tonight, CNN had a one-hour special on the Cosby scandal. Most of the second half featured a group interview with five of Cosby's accusers, including Barbara Bowman, who first spoke out in the Washington Post back in November. I started it right after their segment began. Not sure what the first half consisted of.

I believe this is the first group appearance by a number of his accusers. If, somehow, you're still some idiotic holdout who thinks a cabal of multi-generational women have conspired to smear Bill Cosby, I'd urge you to watch the interview and then try and assert such nonsense. This kind of stuff can be very tawdry on CNN, but I have to say I was so impressed by the courage, emotional intelligence and dignity these women displayed. You can watch it again on CNNgo if you are a cable/satellite subscriber. Some clips from the larger interview below...

Obvs.

Yes, Carlos. The majority of the 30+ accusers who have now come out publicly with their allegations are caucasian. About three or four are hispanic and one or two are African American. One of the African American accusers spoke on CNN a couple of weeks ago and said she felt greater backlash, specifically from her own community, than the other accusers because Cosby is viewed as something of an icon or role model in the African American community. She said the backlash received from her fellow brothers and sisters was astonishing and dismaying.

Those were her words in the interview, not mine. Her name is Jewel Allison and you can see her CNN interview here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/02/showbiz/bill-cosby-allegations/

Further, to that point: Allison said that, because she's African-American, she was especially reluctant to speak out, as Cosby has long been revered in that community. About a decade ago, Allison said, a friend alleged to her that Cosby had done something similar to her, but Allison urged her "to keep quiet."