Amid spiraling allegations that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted multiple women in the past, an attorney for the veteran comedian on Sunday spoke out, saying Cosby will not dignify the “decade-old, discredited” claims with a response.
Attorney John P. Schmitt, addressing the resurfaced accusations for the first time, released a statement online saying that the 77-year-old star has no plans as of now to comment.
“The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true,” Schmitt wrote.
Though over the past 30 years several women have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault, he has never been criminally charged. Cosby has consistently denied the allegations; in 2006, he settled a civil lawsuit with a Andrea Constand, a woman who claimed he drugged and sexually assaulted her in his home near Philadelphia.
The allegations bubbled up again last month when comedian Hannibal Buress called Crosby a rapist during a show. Then, another one of Cosby’s accusers, Barbara Bowman, 47, who claims to have been drugged and assaulted by Cosby decades ago, wrote an online column in The Washington Post last week detailing her experience.
“I’m certain now that he drugged and raped me. But as a teenager, I tried to convince myself I had imagined it. I even tried to rationalize it: Bill Cosby was going to make me a star and this was part of the deal,” Bowman wrote in the Post.
As nightmarish headlines and memes continue to erupt, Cosby has remained mum. During an interview on NPR’s “Weekend Edition” that aired Saturday, he refused to acknowledge the allegations when asked by host Scott Simon. Instead, Cosby just silently shook his head “no” over and over.
Cosby, who was slated to appear on “Late Show With David Letterman” this Wednesday has been removed from the line-up, though his representatives for and those for “Late Show” have not disclosed the reason.
Anna Brand