Bill Cosby

[tropaka]

I honestly don't know what to believe. If he did it shame on him. He should've been in prison a long time ago if he did. I just don't understand the one woman who accepted money. I hate that. The same with the MJ allegations. Parents sued him for money instead of pressing charges and continued to allow their kids to be with a stranger. If somebody rapes you press charges nor get money. Rapist belong in prison

The woman who brought the civil suit did go to the police, who investigated and didn't find enough evidence to charge, so she went the civil route. She lined up 13 other women (a few have come forward recently and also back in 2005, including a nurse and a lawyer) - none of whom received money. He settled with the complainant on terms she not discuss the case. He's only openly admitted consensual sex with women who were not his wife (at least 2 or 3 at this point, including the woman who sued and another whose daughter went after him for money and ended up in jail for extortion).

[lilwriter85]

People have been telling their stories of being raped by Bill since 2000. It's sad that it didn't get more press, that the public didn't take note.

It is abhorrent that Bill has done these things. The same man who was ALWAYS on his high horse about morals and giving a good image to his people.

He got rid of Lisa Bonet because he thought she was doing silly things and didn't believe it was appropriate for her to be young and pregnant on his show.

Shame on you Bill, you are lower than a sewer rat.

I was quite young when the Cosby Show originally aired on NBC. I remember watching it with my older siblings. I was 12 and in the 6th grade, when Bill Cosby's son was murdered and I remember the press coverage and many people reached out to Cosby and his family. One of my 6th grade teachers actually met Cosby and his son in the 80s at an education conference. She said both were pleasant and she only spoke to them for a few minutes. A few years later, I watched the Cosby Show in reruns and I found the parents to be quite smug on the show and Cosby in real life comes off as smug at times. I remember seeing E! True Hollywood Story on The Cosby Show and the drama with Lisa Bonet was discussed.

I also remember finding out about Cosby's drama with Roseanne Barr. Their shows were produced by the same company Carsey-Werner Company. Roseanne's show gradually became more popular than the Cosby Show and Bill was pissed and complained about some of the content of Roseanne to Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner. Roseanne shot back that her show was more realistic. I know Roseanne is crazy and has said some shitty things, but I found her show(minus the last season) to be better than the Cosby Show.

Cosby Show reruns were taken off TVLand, but two other cable networks are keeping them on the schedule. I think they will take the reruns off later on. The fallout will be bigger for Cosby than the recent stuff with Stephen Collins.

[calimojo]

I don't know what to think. It just seems impossible to me that out of 15 or more women, no one came forward at the time. It also seems odd that as Cosby has spoken out about young African Americans that suddenly all of this comes forward.

Some of the stories, are just so odd to me. Stories of traveling with him, willingly staying with him for weeks, months or longer. Yes, I get that it is hard for victims of abuse to escape or leave, but seriously, all of these women, just kept continuing to see him despite waking up after being drugged with evidence of being roughly sexed up?

I am not a Cosby fan, I disliked The Cosby Show, and have always felt that under his public persona that he was probably a rather unlikeable man. So I am not saying these things out of nostalgic loyalty to the Jello Pudding man.

People keep commenting on the similarities between stories, well, considering that the early stories were published in gory detail, it would not be at all hard to reproduce a similar story.

I would definitely NOT consider Janice Dickinson as a reliable source in anyway. By her own admission, she was addicted to multiple drugs and alcohol most of her adult life.

I also don't think I am victim shaming. If these women were truly victims, my heart goes out to them and Cosby should be prosecuted or at least should have to pay up in some way. But some of the stories I have read, could also be women who saw an opportunity to be with a powerful man who promised them or hinted at connections for their careers. The drug use may have been completely consensual.

Or, it could all be true, and Bill Cosby really is a horrible monster. I just don't feel like stories I read on The Daily Mail are exactly enough to sway me of the veracity of all these accounts.

Does anyone remember the Salem Witch Trials? Jumping on the bandwagon to accuse someone is something that has happened through out history.

I personally agree with a wait and see on this one.

[roddma]

Lisa bonet played the oldest daughter Denise. I thought she got fired for posing in Playboy.

I think it creates doubt in cases where the accused has $$$. But for 14 to come forward, something must be amiss. All I know if it happened to me money would be the last thing on my mind. Just because a person has a drug addiction doesn't give anyone else a right to take sexual advantage of them. It's kinda like blaming 'what she wore' . If they accusations are false, this only makes it worse for real victims. i wish ppl would realize the harm they cause by false accusation.

[martian]

I don't know what to think. It just seems impossible to me that out of 15 or more women, no one came forward at the time. It also seems odd that as Cosby has spoken out about young African Americans that suddenly all of this comes forward.

That's not quite true. The woman he settled with went to the police but unfortunately a year after it happened and the prosecutors felt that it wasn't a winnable case. That prosecutor has since said he did feel she was credible and that Cosby was lying. So, she took him to civil court and found 13 other women who were willing to testify. It boggles my mind to think how many women there might be if she was able to find that many actually willing to get up in court. And Janice Dickinson wanted to name Cosby in her memoir years ago and his lawyers leaned on her publisher to prevent it. Cosby went on blathering about how young black men just needed to pull their pants up for years after these allegations first started coming out - it's not some kind of payback for being a moral beacon.

Personally, I know several women who were raped (more than, actually) and the only one who went to the cops was basically laughed at. It was even the "right" kind of rape - at gunpoint by a stranger - they brushed her off. Getting a rape prosecuted is a traumatic horror show under the best of circumstances, and I don't blame any woman who looked at her personal situation and decided to cut her losses before Dr. Huxtable's lawyers and p.r. flacks tried her in the court of public opinion. That a rich and influential man got away with heinous behavior for most of his life is really the most believable thing about this in my opinion.

[RosyDaisy]

I...umm...well....can't.... uh...Hell, I have no words for this.

[calimojo]

That's not quite true. The woman he settled with went to the police but unfortunately a year after it happened and the prosecutors felt that it wasn't a winnable case. That prosecutor has since said he did feel she was credible and that Cosby was lying. So, she took him to civil court and found 13 other women who were willing to testify. It boggles my mind to think how many women there might be if she was able to find that many actually willing to get up in court. And Janice Dickinson wanted to name Cosby in her memoir years ago and his lawyers leaned on her publisher to prevent it. Cosby went on blathering about how young black men just needed to pull their pants up for years after these allegations first started coming out - it's not some kind of payback for being a moral beacon.

Personally, I know several women who were raped (more than, actually) and the only one who went to the cops was basically laughed at. It was even the "right" kind of rape - at gunpoint by a stranger - they brushed her off. Getting a rape prosecuted is a traumatic horror show under the best of circumstances, and I don't blame any woman who looked at her personal situation and decided to cut her losses before Dr. Huxtable's lawyers and p.r. flacks tried her in the court of public opinion. That a rich and influential man got away with heinous behavior for most of his life is really the most believable thing about this in my opinion.

I am sorry but Janice Dickinson is not a credible source, and her claims that she tried to put it in her memoirs, but was pressured not to, do not ring true to me. She would never be a credible witness either. The other women are probably much more credible than she is.

I was a victim of sexual assault for over year from a man I worked for when I was 16. I am not blaming the victims here, if the stories are true. I also worked in Mental Health early in my nursing career. (when you have over 30 years in nursing you work in lots of different areas. For me, Mental Health, OB a brief stint in surgery and now Infection Prevention). Anyway, I used to co-lead a support group for eating disorder patients. When new patients would join the group, I witnessed with my own eyes, the pressure for these women to recall memories of sexual abuse. Many group members would insist that it had to be there, and the more a patient would deny it, the more deeply buried it was. Eventually, the new patient would start to have these 'recovered' memories of abuse. She would win the acceptance of the group and be viewed as having made progress. I also have a cousin who accused her father of sexual abuse for nearly 20 years. She had been a victim of date rape in the 1980's. She became a member of what was called then a Rape Victims support group. Soon after her getting involved in that, she had more and more rape memories coming forward, to the point it seemed like she had been raped every week. Then the incest claims. The whole family was torn apart, and as her dad was a high school teacher in a small town, it ruined his career as well, because she made her accusations public. Fast forward to about 5 years ago, and now she admits that it was not true. The date rape was true, but the rest was not. She was so entrenched in the group dynamic that she started to assimilate many of their stories, and memories. Fortunately her dad is still living, so she can make some amends but much damage was done. I really do believe that she believed her story at first. But then as she began to question her recalled memories of abuse, I think it took her a long time to be able to acknowledge it wasn't true. Thankfully her kids have now been able to have a relationship with her dad as well, as she kept them away from him for years on end.

Sexual assault is a horrible thing, and victims deserve justice and as much help and support as they need. But like it or not, some people intentionally lie about being attacked, some re-write history because they are uncomfortable with the role they played. My college roommate is an example of that one. She was always very open about sleeping around. She liked sex, was experimental and never felt guilty about it. But then years later, she seemed to feel like she had been exploited by many men during that time in her life and coerced into sex. As a witness to much of it, that was definitely not the impression I had. I realize there could have been dynamics at play that I did not see, but sometimes I do wonder if she just felt remorse or had a change of heart about her choices at that that she made at the time.

I realize that Cosby was very well known and respected and it would have been hard to speak out against him. The Cosby Show was a huge cash cow for NBC and the producers, etc, so I suppose it isn't hard to imagine that there would have been a lot of people with a very vested interest in paying off these women in exchange for their silence.

But why, all of a sudden, do we have over 14 coming forward all at once? That part feels suspicious to me. I guess I don't have a hard time believing that Cosby is a creep, as much as I think it is odd that everyone is coming forward now.

It is a real mess of a situation, and I imagine it is going to get uglier. I don't feel much for Cosby, but I do for his wife and family.

[martian]

None of the women who have come forward are talking about recovered memories, so I don't see the connection at all. Again, the stories about Cosby have been around for years, some of these women have been speaking out for years. If you want to know why it's finally blowing up, thank the Internet. A comedian, Hannibal Burress, called out Cosby as a rapist in a stand up routine and dared the audience to google it. That ignited controversy and, in the aftermath, a victim came forward to thank Burress and tell her story. Barbara Bowman. The floodgates opened from there.

The growth of social media, Facebook, Twitter, etc., mean stories like this can take off the same way Grumpy Cat, Ceiling Cat, and the latest sad/uplifting videos do. In my opinion, it's not so much surprising as it was probably inevitable that the Cosby scandal would finally ignite - it just needed a fresh spark.

I'm sorry for what you went through with your employer. That's really awful. People can be such creeps.

[aquitana]

When I was young and single, I remember figuring out that 1 in 4 of my girlfriends had been raped, mostly date rape, and almost no one went to the police.

I think they mostly just tried to move on, and didn't want to deal with the courts and the legal system. It's such a common occurrance, so I'm not surprised that Cosby got away with it for so long, with so few people reporting it.

[martian]

I think there has been a huge shift in how people regard rape and sexual abuse. (Which is me being Captain Obvious, I think)

This whole thing has caused me to reflect back on a lot of events, though, and when I think on things like my girlfriend getting brushed off by the cops after a violent rape, I'm shocked most by our reactions. We were so resigned to it. Like, "What assholes." and... done. Moving on. This was more than twenty years ago that this happened. I swear to god, if it happened today, I think I'd burn down the police station. I don't know if that's partly a function of my own much older age, the culture shifting, or what. A lot of the women coming forward are older, though. Maybe things shifted for them, too.

It's weird. I was considered pretty strident and proactive as a girl and young woman, and yet I'm looking back at all the horrible stuff that my friends and I just accepted and getting really depressed.

[calimojo]

None of the women who have come forward are talking about recovered memories, so I don't see the connection at all. Again, the stories about Cosby have been around for years, some of these women have been speaking out for years. If you want to know why it's finally blowing up, thank the Internet. A comedian, Hannibal Burress, called out Cosby as a rapist in a stand up routine and dared the audience to google it. That ignited controversy and, in the aftermath, a victim came forward to thank Burress and tell her story. Barbara Bowman. The floodgates opened from there.

The growth of social media, Facebook, Twitter, etc., mean stories like this can take off the same way Grumpy Cat, Ceiling Cat, and the latest sad/uplifting videos do. In my opinion, it's not so much surprising as it was probably inevitable that the Cosby scandal would finally ignite - it just needed a fresh spark.

I'm sorry for what you went through with your employer. That's really awful. People can be such creeps.

I totally get what your saying, but your point also sort of supports what I have said. Social media is powerful thing and it can lead to Salem Witch Trial type of hysteria as much as it can lead to uncovering something like this.

I mean just look at how our innocent speculation about about Jana ended up being picked up by some social media sites? Or the whole Jessa having sex in the church thing was picked up and reported as fact.

Maybe I am old fashioned here, but I hate it when people are tried and convicted in Social Media. It ends up skewing Justice, in both directions.

[Maggie Mae]

Which one was Lisa Bonet?

I'm disappointed. I love the Cosby show.

I have to admit I'm in more of a wait and see mode right now.

Lisa Bonet played Denise, the second oldest daughter. The character married a military guy who had a daughter, played by Raven Simone. Lisa Bonet, arguably, had more of a post-Cosby career than any of the other kids.

I'll admit I loved the Cosby Show growing up. I wasn't allowed to watch very much TV, and a lot of it I didn't really care for. But I liked Cosby. Yes, it was unrealistic. I liked the fact that the parents listened to the kids when they talked to them, and Rudy was about my age. I dunno, I just liked it. I still like some of the pre-cousin Pam episodes. But probably more out of nostalgia than anything.

[Maggie Mae]

Sexual assault is a horrible thing, and victims deserve justice and as much help and support as they need. But like it or not, some people intentionally lie about being attacked, some re-write history because they are uncomfortable with the role they played. My college roommate is an example of that one. She was always very open about sleeping around. She liked sex, was experimental and never felt guilty about it. But then years later, she seemed to feel like she had been exploited by many men during that time in her life and coerced into sex. As a witness to much of it, that was definitely not the impression I had. I realize there could have been dynamics at play that I did not see, but sometimes I do wonder if she just felt remorse or had a change of heart about her choices at that that she made at the time.

You're right. Well, I don't know this person. But from my personal experience, there are dynamics in play that roommates don't see. I too enjoyed sex. I enjoyed parties and drinking and experiments. I did not like the way certain men had no respect for boundaries. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized how fucked up some of the situations were.

[calimojo]

What puzzles me about some of the allegations were that these women had long term relationships with him. They were clearly hoping he could help their careers and if what they say is true, he also indicated to them that he would help them. They often met with him repeatedly, even after claiming to wake up from being drugged in various states of dress.

I think he set one of them up in an apartment for awhile and would visit her there. And she would repeatedly state she felt drugged by him, yet she continued to see him. SHe doesn't claim that he held her prisoner or that she was in fear he would harm her if she stopped seeing him. At some level I just can't believe that she was naive to the fact that he was doing her favors in return for her doing him favors. The kink with drugging or whatever may have been something they were both into. A lot of people used poppers for sex or other drugs in the 70's and 80's. Perhaps the drug use played with her memories.

I find those stories the hardest to buy. The stories of a one time encounter have more veracity IMO. After reading more today in the Washington Post, and other sources, it does feel like Cosby is at the very least "guilty" of exploitative behavior and there seems to be enough smoke to call it a fire on the sexual coercion using drugs. Most of the accusations don't come out and say he forced PnV, but coerced Oral, or manual stimulation. It all makes me wonder if Cos had some sort of sexual dysfunction and so he preferred his women to be unconscious or partially unconscious so they wouldn't notice his issues, whatever they were.

But I still go on record here of being anti-trial by social media and I think Social Media almost always far favors the perceived Victims and does so with very little requirement of proof. We love to get wrapped up in these stories and then become outraged. We want to storm the castle with torches and boiling hot oil.

These women need to take their claims through legal channels. Yes, it is too late for criminal prosecutions for most of them, but they still have civil courts. This is where this needs to be, not on Daily Mail, or TMZ or Other less than credible faux news sites.

I also do believe that there may be some forces in the background that are rallying these women to come out now. All it needed were a few detailed and high profile stories at the right time, to open the flood gates. And the timing, seems suspect to me.

[CorruptionInc.]

As much as Janice Dickinson is unreliable, there are several other victims coming out so surely they would be reliable?

I no way I am saying Janice was not a victim (we don't know what really happened) but if more than one person is admitting, a pattern is forming, it could be true.

Still sad that it's Bill Cosby, you'd really like to think he wouldn't do that sort of thing, but you can't judge a book by its cover!

[2xx1xy1JD]

What puzzles me about some of the allegations were that these women had long term relationships with him. They were clearly hoping he could help their careers and if what they say is true, he also indicated to them that he would help them. They often met with him repeatedly, even after claiming to wake up from being drugged in various states of dress.

I think he set one of them up in an apartment for awhile and would visit her there. And she would repeatedly state she felt drugged by him, yet she continued to see him. SHe doesn't claim that he held her prisoner or that she was in fear he would harm her if she stopped seeing him. At some level I just can't believe that she was naive to the fact that he was doing her favors in return for her doing him favors. The kink with drugging or whatever may have been something they were both into. A lot of people used poppers for sex or other drugs in the 70's and 80's. Perhaps the drug use played with her memories.

I find those stories the hardest to buy. The stories of a one time encounter have more veracity IMO. After reading more today in the Washington Post, and other sources, it does feel like Cosby is at the very least "guilty" of exploitative behavior and there seems to be enough smoke to call it a fire on the sexual coercion using drugs. Most of the accusations don't come out and say he forced PnV, but coerced Oral, or manual stimulation. It all makes me wonder if Cos had some sort of sexual dysfunction and so he preferred his women to be unconscious or partially unconscious so they wouldn't notice his issues, whatever they were.

But I still go on record here of being anti-trial by social media and I think Social Media almost always far favors the perceived Victims and does so with very little requirement of proof. We love to get wrapped up in these stories and then become outraged. We want to storm the castle with torches and boiling hot oil.

These women need to take their claims through legal channels. Yes, it is too late for criminal prosecutions for most of them, but they still have civil courts. This is where this needs to be, not on Daily Mail, or TMZ or Other less than credible faux news sites.

I also do believe that there may be some forces in the background that are rallying these women to come out now. All it needed were a few detailed and high profile stories at the right time, to open the flood gates. And the timing, seems suspect to me.

Actually, these women don't NEED to do anything. The decision to launch a civil suit or not is highly personal.

You can also bet that if someone did sue, immediately folks would claim that this was all one big money grab.

It's not rocket science. Women are coming forward, as they did in the Jian Ghomeshi case, because the allegations were suddenly coming out in public and they knew that they were not alone.

Once you have multiple women making allegations, some of whom are willing to go on the record with them names, and when those women wouldn't have known each other previously, and when there's just a "no comment" from the accused - I assumed that there is a problem.

"Innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" is a great standard for criminal court. It's not the standard we use for civil suits, and it's certainly not the standard that we need to use when deciding if we need to take precautions around someone who is a potential danger, or when deciding if we want to support someone with potentially really bad/criminal behavior.

[Firiel]

"Innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" is a great standard for criminal court. It's not the standard we use for civil suits, and it's certainly not the standard that we need to use when deciding if we need to take precautions around someone who is a potential danger, or when deciding if we want to support someone with potentially really bad/criminal behavior.

This. A million times.

[BrownieMomma]

Another woman has come forward today and it's really bothering me.

She is saying Cosby assaulted her from age 15 - 19. She worked with him on an educational project.

But... he paid her college tuition.

It's hard for me to see past my own experience and truly realize that other women may have different reactions but I just wanted to get past it and move on. I sure as hell wasn't going to be taking college tuition or an apartment or $15k.

This woman says he flew her to various cities and he always gave her a drink. She told him she didn't want the drink but he said she couldn't come unless she took the drink.

So why go?

Her story is that she can't say exactly what happened because of the drink but one time he was there in the morning, leaving.

The only thing I guess I can draw from this is that if Cosby is innocent, he probably should have taken a page from Dr. Billy Graham's book and never ever ever be alone with any female who is not his wife. Guard yourself carefully.

[browncoatslytherin]

The only thing I guess I can draw from this is that if Cosby is innocent, he probably should have taken a page from Dr. Billy Graham's book and never ever ever be alone with any female who is not his wife. Guard yourself carefully.

quite a few of the pastors i've had over the years have the same policy, especially if they're offering counseling services to a woman. it was about guarding against the very appearance of impropriety.

[may2]

The Washington Post put 4 bylined reporters on the Cosby case.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/bill-cosbys-legacy-recast-accusers-speak-in-detail-about-sexual-assault-allegations/2014/11/22/d7074938-718e-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html

[martian]

"I felt like a pimp": Cosby insider "who guarded the comedian's door after teen models were taken to his dressing room" speaks out about his shame.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... shame.html

[calimojo]

Another woman has come forward today and it's really bothering me.

She is saying Cosby assaulted her from age 15 - 19. She worked with him on an educational project.

But... he paid her college tuition.

It's hard for me to see past my own experience and truly realize that other women may have different reactions but I just wanted to get past it and move on. I sure as hell wasn't going to be taking college tuition or an apartment or $15k.

This woman says he flew her to various cities and he always gave her a drink. She told him she didn't want the drink but he said she couldn't come unless she took the drink.

So why go?

Her story is that she can't say exactly what happened because of the drink but one time he was there in the morning, leaving.

The only thing I guess I can draw from this is that if Cosby is innocent, he probably should have taken a page from Dr. Billy Graham's book and never ever ever be alone with any female who is not his wife. Guard yourself carefully.

These recurring stories are the ones that bother me too. And the fact that with a 15 year old, you just have to think her parents had to be endorsing the relationship.

As more and more info is rolling out, I am feeling fairly certain that Cosby has enough smoke going on that somewhere there is fire. But I also think that some of these women were engaged in something more consensual than what they are reporting now.

Some of these stories are tragic and twisted and very sad, and I hope that the true victims are able to have some peace and closure.

Cosby is unlikely to recover from this and should probably just retire from public life and just be grateful for all he has. Even if none of this goes anywhere, it will follow him to the end.

[turquoise]

I must have been living under a rock, because I had never heard about any of these allegations until the last few weeks.

What makes me think there is some truth to at least some of them, besides the numbers coming out, is the way Cosby is reacting. If the accusations were really false, I'd expect him to publicly say he was innocent, or at the very least, that his lawyers had advised him not to comment publicly.

Instead, his reactions in a recent interview seem to be attempts to intimidate the reporter. "I think you were told -- I don't want to compromise your integrity, but -- " No, you're not worried about the reporter's integrity, you're worried about your image.

I suspect his money and power allowed him to get away with that kind of intimidation for a long time.

[Savoring Samsara]

Brief summary of a lot of this thread:

"I'm not victim blaming, but..."

[many screens worth of victim blaming]

[formergothardite]

I'm put in mind of another Bill with this thread, Bill Gothard. When the accusations started flooding the internet about him there was a lot of this about the women who finally spoke out:

"Well they stayed, so it couldn't have been too bad."

"They took the gifts he bought them so it must have been consensual."

"She said she thought he was going to marry her, so it was all consensual."

"They waited so long so to say anything it probably is just made up to tear down a good man."

"Why did they go with him alone to his office especially after the first time?"

"They aren't trustworthy women."

"They are just saying things to get attention and/or money."

"Why did they not tell anyone?"

"Why did they wait till others spoke up before they said anything?"