Bill Cosby: Iâm Being Raped By The Right-Wing Media
The news just gotÂ worse for comedian and once beloved TV dad Bill Cosby amid mountingÂ allegationsÂ of sexual assault. First came wordÂ that Netflix postponed aÂ Nov. 27 premiere of Cosbyâs new standup routine, then on Nov. 18 former model Janice Dickinson claimedÂ in an ET interview that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in the 1980s â a charge which quashedÂ plans forÂ a planned âcomebackâÂ sitcomÂ and a charge which Cosby denies.Â Dickinson, theÂ self-described âworldâs first supermodelâ also said lawyers and her publisher pressuredÂ her to remove all references to Cosbyâs alleged actions from her 2002 autobiographyÂ No Lifeguard On Duty. Now, Cosby is angering conservatives withÂ remarks allegedly made during a rehearsal while on tour. During aÂ telephone conversation overheard by a theater employee in Florida, the comedian reportedly remarked, âI feel like Iâm being raped by the right-wing media.â âHe was on the phone,â said the employee who requested anonymity, âand I think maybe it was with one of hisÂ lawyers and he told him, âNow I know how it feels to be raped. All these people making allegations after all these years have made me the victim ofÂ this thing,â and then he said ânow Iâm the one being raped by the media, especially the right-wing media.'â The firestorm beganÂ last October when comedian Hannibal Buress called Cosby a rapist during a performance in Philadelphia, Cosbyâs hometown. Since then, two more women have identified themselves as victims of Cosbyâs unwanted advances, with at least 14 women making similar allegations datingÂ back to 1969 â all followingÂ the same general scenario â dinner, drinks, then waking the next morning dressed in different clothing, havingÂ no memory of what occurred the previous evening. During a radio interview last week, Cosby responded with silence when asked if sexual assault allegations madeÂ against him had any merit. The question is, can a comedy icon so widely known and long admired recover from career-ending allegations of sexual assaultÂ by simply refusing to answer the charges head-on? Is the publicâs opinion of Cosby irreparably damaged, orÂ will the fickle, liberal Hollywood elites forgive and forget as they often do, lest they be accused of bias? Cosbyâs tour dates remain intact, althoughÂ his television career has come crashing to an abrupt end â an inconceivable notionÂ when examining hisÂ body of work â especially the incredible ground-breaking success of The Cosby Show,â which airedÂ on NBC from 1984-1992, never rankingÂ lower than third placeÂ during the first six of its eight seasons. But The Cosby ShowÂ was fiction, and now that glamorized image of a âtypicalâÂ African-American upper-middle class family adoredÂ by millions of Â fansÂ worldwide has been overshadowed by ugly truths lurking just behind the stage door.