How do you feel about the accusations against Bill Cosby?

Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.

I have no direct knowledge of the women or the alleged rapes, but I would find it odd that two women would confabulate the same story after 30 years.

It is very sad, for all parties, including those fans (like me) he’s attracted for decades. I suspect the allegations are true, and it’s just another one of those things that deflates my view of humankind.

@elbanditoroso There seem to be a number of allegations and they appear to be true.

@picante I have the same feelings.

Did you mention drugging them then raping them? I think they are all pretty credible. It is appalling.

I have heard of this and wonder not knowing the story, why do women when it comes to these celebrities , wait so many years before coming forward?

Some came forward right away and it is my understanding, were given hush money to shut up. Others may be afraid to come forward. Any woman who accuses someone of rape may be subjected to harsh, insensitive treatment and if one is accusing a beloved celebrity, he has a lot of power to dodge the accusations and suppress the accuser. it is a very brave act to come forward.

True I don’t deny that at all, but 30 years later?
The ones paid hush money are they coming forward now? Because, think about this, if they accepted the money then they were paid for the sex.
As for ones that were to scared but didn’t take any money and are now coming forward good for them and if he is found guilty, then must be dealt with fully.
If these women are looking for money, or fifteen minutes of fame ,then I hope that comes out as well and his name is cleared.

Apparently the resurgence of the issue was sparked by a Twitter comment.

It is hard to believe that these women are all looking for “15 minutes of fame” at this point in their lives. I am reminded of the med school adage, “If there are hoofbeats in the night, it is usually horses, not zebras.”

Once again, it seems someone who has been admired for his good works is hiding behind his good reputation. It’s usually a priest or a minister or a beloved coach.

I never found him in the remotest bit funny, thought he came across as arrogant & aloof.
I guess these allegations, if proved accurate, come as no great surprise.

I believed it the first time this was disclosed. It’s sad to say, but I’m not surprised. I don’t put a lot of faith in men in powerful positions.

He is a man, so of course he is guilty.

It makes me sad—and makes me wonder about the kids who grew up on the Cosby Show. A lot of them struggled as adults and makes me wonder what they grew up with, behind the scenes. None of them, other than Raven Simone, have had much success in TV or film—some moved to theater and music.

It’s one thing that the women were raped, but if Cosby has a personality that would justify rape, it has to have spilled out into other areas of his interactions and affected more than just the women that were raped. It’s all disheartening.

Janice Dickenson told about this back then. Bill Cosby is a POS. I worked in the Brentwood area in my late teens, and Bill Cosby has been doing this for years. Janice Dickensen told other people about it at the time it happened. You, wait, more will come out.

Ummm…...sounds like a money grab to me.

Not surprised. most of these celebrities that the Media build up have a dark underbelly. Most get away with it.

I was never a fan but I thought he was a pleasant enough guy. After the Jimmy Savile revelations however nothing would surprise me.

^ I so agree on Jimmy Savile @flutherother. That man was weird. However, Rolf Harris was a surprise. Such situations do mean I’m not terribly shocked by the revelations coming out about Cosby. It would appear in the past celebrities were able to very successfully hide their bad behaviour.

I’m shocked, frankly. It’s hard for me to believe Cosby could be such a sick pucker and hide it from Phylicia Rashad for 8 long years.

I mean, we’re talking about mental illness here. The man could have had voluntary sex with thousands of choice women, yet chooses to drug and rape at will? I’m not saying, “Poor Bill, he’s mentally ill.” I’m saying he’s likely criminally ill and needs to live all his final days in the worst prison in the American system.

There’s little doubt that he’s guilty. There might now be as many as 15 accusers. Decades later, what’s the point in falsely coming forward? Who would want to accuse Cliff Huxtable Bill Cosby of sexual abuse?

What a POS if proven guilty.

Why can’t this be Al Sharpton instead?

I am proud of my son for pointing out that it took a man speaking up about all the years of rumors for the media to finally pay attention.

@Hypocrisy_Central Why do you think it’s a money grab? You don’t believe it is true?

I think it is sad and pathetic and I agree with @ibstubro I hope he gets his and spends the next decade in prison.

Same as I felt when I heard my first Commander-in-Chief had probably put a pearl necklace on an eager but stupid young staffer.
Disappointed, but somehow not surprised if it turned out to be true.

I grew up watching Cosby. I liked him. I liked pudding pops.

I was raped almost 30 years ago and I only told a few close friends after it happened. I’m trying to imagine myself publicly naming the accuser after all these years and wondering what it would accomplish. It wouldn’t change any of the feelings I’ve felt the past 30 years. If my abuser had been Cosby, shaming a man that is in the last years of his life certainly isn’t going to help.

How do I feel about the accusations? I feel they are too late and help no one.

This isn’t an entirely new thing, Bill Cosby has had rape/sexual assault allegations made against him for years, some of them by some of same women speaking now who were ignored then.

name one celebrity that hasn’t been accused of something nefarious

Your point?

My point? I gave my opinion to the OP and I assumed you responded to me, so I replied. I really don’t give a shit about Cosby to waste time proving a point.. M’kay.

Ah. See, there for a moment it kinda sounded like you were implying that the accusations must not be true, since sometimes celebrities get accused of things.

I hope he goes down in fucking flames.

I agree when there’s smoke there’s fire. For these women, many who were in show business, if they came forward at the time of the occurrence, going against a much loved man like Bill Cosby, they would have been discredited, sued and probably never work in show business again. I am happy that media outlets are investigating, because they’ll be all over this in the coming weeks and more allegations will emerge, and at the very least, Bill Cosby will look like the vulture that he apparently is.

I do not agree with @SQUEEKY2 that if the women were paid off, they were actually, then, paid for the sex. If they were drugged and raped, no money could compensate for that. They were paid for their silence. When Michael Jackson paid off the mother of the boy who slept in his bed, does that equate to the boy being paid for the sex (or whatever happened)?

@Darth_Algar Agree. It is not a new thing. It is good that it seems to be sticking this time.

@jca @SQUEEKY2 It’s not that they were paid hush money, it’s that no one would listen. A book was written in 2007 identifying many women that claimed Cosby had raped them. But publishers were loathe to get involved with “taking down” someone like Cosby.

There are strong parallels to the reverence paid to Joe Paterno and his protection of Jerry Sandusky.

@zenvelo: You may be mistakenly thinking I agree with @SQUEEKY2.

There is a former Assistant District Attorney on the news now, talking about Cosby’s allegations from back when, and he says he had a gut feeling that Cosby did it, but feeling that someone is guilty and being able to prove that they’re guilty are two different things.

@jca If it ever went to trial you don’t think a high priced defence lawyer isn’t going to twist that (hush money) into services rendered?
Especially if the women accepted it?the hush money that is.
Then to come forward decades later saying they were raped?
Any woman who told him to take his hush money and go to hell, has a lot better chance at nailing his crusty balls to the wall.

@SQUEEKY2 From what I’ve read, only one woman was hushed and she is not one of the ones speaking out now. The fact that so many women are coming forward with the same story lends it tremendous validity in my mind.

Hey I am not saying the guy if he did it, isn’t a first class dirt bag that should go away.
But any women that accepted any hush money wont stand a chance against him in court.
I really don’t keep up with celebs in trouble with the law.
I was just stating my case with any hush money.

If he went to court (if the statute of limitations were not expired, so this is purely hypothetical), if it came out that he gave “hush money” then he would be forced to admit to exactly what he was asking to be hushed.

Still and all, I don’t think that hush money equates to buying sex. If he wanted to buy sex, he could just go out and buy a whore. He drugged women and had sex with them without their permission? You think hush money justifies that? Would some hush money pay for years of therapy? Can hush money hide the shame, humiliation and pain that the women must have felt?

Bottom line, people cow down and fear those in positions of power. Women were still ashamed to admit to sexual assault in the 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s, many still are. It carries a stigma that somehow it is the womans fault that she must have provoked the person, dressed too provocatively or otherwise invited the assault. The whole notion that men can’t control themselves and the blaming the victim mentality. Sexual assault is not about sex, it is about power and control. I agree, taking hush money is not about exonerating the act, it is more about fear and confusion and like all abusers I wouldn’t be surprised if their were other threats as well.

A close family friend was paid by the Catholic Church to cover up sexual abuse and was actually a priest himself for 5 years. One of his abusers became a bishop. Unable to stand that hypocrisy, he came forward and was instrumental in bringing the whole priest-abuse scandal to the forefront. I seriously doubt he would have been believed at the time if the abuse, and that trying to expose his abuse at the time it occurred would have likely ruined his life.

Bill Cosby has been accused of sexual abuse so many times over the years that I had indelibly linked his name to that of abuse. When they began the promos for his recent appearance on NPR, my first thought was “Is he still around? I need to remember to check the internet for the outcome of his abuse allegations when I get home.”

I think that, in some ways, it’s even more important to hold public figures accountable. They have put themselves in the public eye, and, in Cosby’s case, he has held himself up as a role model.

@zenvelo Why do you think it’s a money grab? You don’t believe it is true?
Here is a concept more than a few should try, as farfetched as it seems, you are innocent until someone can prove you guilty. Second, I am suspect any time people wait more than a couple of weeks to come forward, especially when doing so is not going to earn them a MOB hit, or a drive-by. Toss in the prospect of 100s of $1,000s of dollars, I feel I know the motivation. If he did it, someone prove it, until then, I don’t care and will view him as innocent.

This is a relevant (and interesting) article from The Guardian about Cosby. It suggests a number of women reported him over the years.

_Some have claimed that people started paying attention to allegations of Cosby assaulting women only when men spoke up about it, Buress included. But this isn’t entirely true. Even back in 2005 these stories were being covered by the national press in America. Tamara Green, interviewed on NBC’s The Today Show, said that in the 1970s Cosby plied her with pills and molested her. Later that year, the Philadelphia Daily News covered Beth Ferrier’s story in which she alleged that Cosby drugged and assaulted her in the 1980s. The year after that, People magazine interviewed Barbara Bowman, who alleged that Cosby assaulted her in the 1980s.

During all this, Cosby settled a lawsuit brought by another accuser, Andrea Constand, who alleged that he drugged and molested her in 2004. Earlier this year, Newsweek interviewed Barbara Bowman and Tamara Green about their allegations. These stories have been around for a while, and if it’s taken a decade for them to affect Cosby’s career – Netflix is cancelling his comedy special, and Cosby himself has cancelled talkshow appearances – then that is a reflection of a growing intolerance among the public for bad behaviour (for want of a better term) from men in the public eye, coupled with the brave tenacity of the women making allegations in the face of plenty of initial doubt. At the moment 15 women have made allegations against Cosby, including the actor Janice Dickinson._

It certainly bears repeating, @Earthbound_Misfit, so see my corroboration in my first post to this thread.

I’m inclined to give Dr. Cosby some of a pass since his denouncement of black “urban culture” is spot on.

^ Dusgusting.

Don’t care. never liked him before, don’t like him now and probably never would have liked him in the future. See what happens when the Media builds a celebrity to be the be all and end all? The bigger they are the harder they fall.

There are so many much more important things going on in the word today. Bill Cosby is on the bottom of my list of things to be pissed off about.