More Bill Cosby accusers expected to speak out
Bill Cosby. AP FILE PHOTO
LOS ANGELES — Three women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby are scheduled to appear at a Wednesday afternoon press conference called by attorney Gloria Allred.
Allred wrote in a news release that she will propose a way the women can “obtain justice” despite statutes of limitations that would prevent criminal or civil cases from being filed.
Two of the women have never spoken about their experiences with Cosby, Allred wrote. The third woman was prepared to testify against Cosby to support another woman’s 2005 lawsuit claiming sexual assault by Cosby in Pennsylvania. Cosby settled that lawsuit before it went to trial.
The press conference comes a day after a sexual battery lawsuit was filed by Judy Huth, a Southern California woman who claims the comedian molested her in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion around 1974 when she was 15 years old.
Huth’s lawsuit states she became aware of the psychological damage the incident recently. Under California law, adult victims who suffered childhood sexual abuse can file lawsuits within three years of when they discover the abuse caused significant psychological trauma.
In recent weeks, more than a dozen women have accused Cosby of drugging and sexually abusing them. Cosby’s attorney, Marty Singer, did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday, though Cosby’s attorneys previously have issued statements characterizing some of the claims as previously discredited and others as untrue.
Tweets sent from Cosby’s official Twitter account on Monday and Tuesday thanked a pair of celebrity supporters, Whoopi Goldberg and singer Jill Scott.
Cosby, 77, has steadfastly refused to answer questions about the sex abuse allegations. Singer has denied some of the accusations and said several of the women accusing Cosby have been discredited, but none of the claims have been tested in court.
Since the most recent allegations arose, NBC has scrapped a Cosby comedy that was under development, TV Land stopped airing reruns of “The Cosby Show,” and Netflix postponed a Cosby standup special. Numerous dates on Cosby’s tour have been canceled.
One North Carolina school removed the entertainer from an advisory board; another stopped awarding an online scholarship in Cosby’s name. Cosby also resigned from Temple University’s board of trustees on Monday, saying he “wanted to do what would be in the best interests of the university and its students.”
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