Last time I spoke of Bill Cosby, he was trying to bully an AP journo to bury an interview where he didn’t admit anything about the renewed abuse allegations. I gave credit to Hannibal Buress for his viral stand-up routine that brought the Cosby stories back into mainstream awareness. This week’s issue of the Sunday Washington Post made the same statement about Hannibal; that’s not all. The Sunday WaPo devoted their cover story in their print edition to the ongoing Cosby scandals. They include a full timeline of the abuse allegations, which is a useful reference. I can’t even keep track of all the women who have come forward, so the timeline is a helpful, but awful overview.

One of the latest women bringing allegations happens to be Michelle Hurd of Law & Order and Gossip Girl. The WaPo reacts to the increasing number of allegations with an extended article featuring new interviews and photos of the victims. The full piece is worth reading, but here are the intro paragraphs:

They didn’t see a comedian. They saw the “king of the world.”

Long before there was a Dr. Cliff Huxtable, before rumpled sweaters and a collective anointing as America’s dad, Bill Cosby was magnified a hundredfold in the eyes of the young models and actresses he pulled into his orbit. For them, he embodied the hippest of the 1960s and ’70s Hollywood scene, a mega-star with the power to make somebodies out of nobodies.

He partied with Hugh Hefner and was a regular at the magazine mogul’s Playboy Mansion bacchanals. He co-owned a restaurant and hit the hottest clubs. He sizzled.

Those wild, largely forgotten days clash with the avuncular image that has been Cosby’s most enduring impression on American culture. And they have been jarringly cast in a wholly different light as a torrent of women have told — and in some cases retold — graphic, highly detailed stories of alleged abuse by Cosby.

Sixteen women have publicly stated that Cosby, now 77, sexually assaulted them, with 12 saying he drugged them first and another saying he tried to drug her. The Washington Post has interviewed five of those women, including a former Playboy Playmate who has never spoken publicly about her allegations. The women agreed to speak on the record and to have their identities revealed. The Post also has reviewed court records that shed light on the accusations of a former director of women’s basketball operations at Temple University who assembled 13 “Jane Doe” accusers in 2005 to testify on her behalf about their allegations against Cosby.

[From Sunday Washington Post]

Cosby is a sorry excuse for a human, and I’m glad that women are no longer afraid of him and feel free to make their stories public. Cosby thinks of it as a smear campaign, of course.

Oh, this is interesting. Cosby performed in the Bahamas on Thursday night for a women’s charity event. This is an organization that supports issues including rape counseling and domestic violence. They didn’t cancel Cosby’s pre-scheduled appearance, and Cosby had a blast onstage. He pretended to cry and joked about recent fallout from countless allegations: “Parents are coming and taking their children home, saying to me, ‘Bill Cosby, you are an evil man! We will never eat your Jello pudding again!’” Yep, that’s right. Cosby thinks everything is very funny, and his audience laughed along with him.

Ridiculous, right? This dude has no remose whatsoever. The good thing is that Hannibal Buress brought Bill’s rep back to the surface. The bad thing? It took a male comedian to make this point whereas several women were ignored when they reported allegations of sexual assault.

Let’s close with bulletpoints:

* David Letterman’s staff was thrilled when the Cosby appearance was cancelled. The New York Daily News published his bizarre backstage requests of the past, including how Cosby would request that talkshow staff to come into his dressing room and watch him eat.

* The Daily Beast has a good story about Cosby’s history of silencing his accusers through tabloid smears and threats.

* Cosby has given an interview with Florida Daily. He says, “I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn’t have to answer to innuendos. People should fact-check. People shouldn’t have to go through that and shouldn’t answer to innuendos.” Notice that Cosby never denies the allegations.

Photos courtesy of WENN

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