Bill Cosby Rape Allegations

[Senator Clay Davis]

I mean holy #### Don Lemon...

[undercoverbrother]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/pe...s-9867159.html


I never liked Whoopi.

[RougeUnderoos]

Interesting article in Slate about all this. Bill Cosby is finished, but R Kelly keeps on going even after all sorts allegations, lawsuits, settlements (and even a video) about him and teenage girls...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor..._s_career.html

"As these last couple of weeks have demonstrated, the Internet’s power to amplify messages (for good and for ill) is exponentially greater than it was just a few years ago. That’s in part due to the rise of Twitter, but also because the media ecosystem is so much different now, with sites like BuzzFeed, Gawker, and, yes, Slate, pouncing on items more quickly and spreading them far and wide. (This is why the Buress video caught fire online, not because a man was saying that Cosby was a rapist.) As a society, we’ve also moved slowly but perceptibly in the direction of believing alleged victims of sexual assault—it turns out that we do, at least in some cases, give credence to the claims of ambitious aspiring actresses. This shift over the last 10 years may be small, but it’s real, and it’s contributed to how this wave of Cosby allegations has been received in the press and in the broader culture.

Given these factors, all of the R. Kelly reporting that’s already out there—helpfully aggregated by the Village Voice—is a tinderbox that’s waiting to be lit. It just hasn’t happened yet. If someone like Lady Gaga says she won’t work with Kelly anymore and explains why (preferably in a sharable video), then that could be the Hannibal Buress–esque spark. If some of Kelly’s alleged victims decide to tell their stories, that could do it, too.

I’m not saying they should come forward—that decision, of course, is theirs and theirs alone. This is simply an explanation of why Cosby has become a pariah while Kelly continues his career unperturbed (with the small exception of a recently canceled concert appearance)"

I knew that guy was a creep, I didn't know he was so popular or there had been so many allegations against him.

[combustiblefuel]

If true 15 women since 2006 (where Cosby settled out of court with one ) have come forward now.


If the other 14 times prove to be true he needs to shut his damn mouth from now on about Black Culture.
Telling people to pull up their pants to speaking proper English if it turns out heas a serial rapist.Now It has not been proven in a court of law but... The woman don't have anything really to gain from speaking out. They aren't suing him for money and they are not trying to press charges. If anything its leaving them more exposed to criticism towards them. Like I said not proven In a court of law but 15 woman with VERY similar stories who are not connected, you gotta think its not a coincidence.

In 1969 the one victim of rape ( allegedly) would not be taken seriously. A rich and powerful man in Hollywood vs some unknown woman. No way . Even during the 80's you wouldn't find a person to believe her in a power position that could actually help her. Most these woman were nobody's. No cash, no power, no notoriety.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

In 1969 the one victim of rape ( allegedly) would not be taken seriously. A rich and powerful man in Hollywood vs some unknown woman. No way . Even during the 80's you wouldn't find a person to believe her in a power position that could actually help her. Most these woman were nobody's. No cash, no power, no notoriety.

Has anything really changed?

This, Ghomeshi, and some other stories are just proving how hard it is for victims to come forward. I find it hard to throw someone under the bus for things that happened so long ago, we need to work to make victims feel empowered to come forward immediately. Time just mutes everything.

[Slava]

I agree that we need to make it so that victims feel safe enough and have the proper avenues to come forward immediately. That would likely help with some prosecutions.

I think Cosby is obviously guilty here, in large part because he doesn't even deny it. It's just too weird to think that if you were innocent of these allegations that you wouldn't be screaming "I didn't do it!" at every possible chance.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Interesting article in Slate about all this. Bill Cosby is finished, but R Kelly keeps on going even after all sorts allegations, lawsuits, settlements (and even a video) about him and teenage girls...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor..._s_career.html

"As these last couple of weeks have demonstrated, the Internet’s power to amplify messages (for good and for ill) is exponentially greater than it was just a few years ago. That’s in part due to the rise of Twitter, but also because the media ecosystem is so much different now, with sites like BuzzFeed, Gawker, and, yes, Slate, pouncing on items more quickly and spreading them far and wide. (This is why the Buress video caught fire online, not because a man was saying that Cosby was a rapist.) As a society, we’ve also moved slowly but perceptibly in the direction of believing alleged victims of sexual assault—it turns out that we do, at least in some cases, give credence to the claims of ambitious aspiring actresses. This shift over the last 10 years may be small, but it’s real, and it’s contributed to how this wave of Cosby allegations has been received in the press and in the broader culture.

Given these factors, all of the R. Kelly reporting that’s already out there—helpfully aggregated by the Village Voice—is a tinderbox that’s waiting to be lit. It just hasn’t happened yet. If someone like Lady Gaga says she won’t work with Kelly anymore and explains why (preferably in a sharable video), then that could be the Hannibal Buress–esque spark. If some of Kelly’s alleged victims decide to tell their stories, that could do it, too.

I’m not saying they should come forward—that decision, of course, is theirs and theirs alone. This is simply an explanation of why Cosby has become a pariah while Kelly continues his career unperturbed (with the small exception of a recently canceled concert appearance)"

I knew that guy was a creep, I didn't know he was so popular or there had been so many allegations against him.

I think it was Adam Carolla, that staunch defender of women's rights, that theorized if you can dance, all will be forgiven. Worked for R Kelly, Michael Jackson, etc. I've seen the opening credits to The Cosby Show and that doesn't cut it.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Delgar

I heard about this years earlier and just thought it was well known and accepted as fact, but he always settled them and kept them quiet. For that reason I was surprised when a user recently registered with a play on his name... why would you want to be associated with Bill Cosby?

These recent allegations are the first that I ever heard of Bill Cosby being a rapist. I kind of live under a rock when it comes to most entertainment new though.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Interesting article in Slate about all this. Bill Cosby is finished, but R Kelly keeps on going even after all sorts allegations, lawsuits, settlements (and even a video) about him and teenage girls...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor..._s_career.html

Chris Brown beat up Rihanna 5 years ago and it hasn't effect his career. It's so unpredictable sometimes how these things will impact celebrities or not.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Chris Brown beat up Rihanna 5 years ago and it hasn't effect his career. It's so unpredictable sometimes how these things will impact celebrities or not.

It is a sad sentence that you have written.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Chris Brown beat up Rihanna 5 years ago and it hasn't effect his career. It's so unpredictable sometimes how these things will impact celebrities or not.

Chris Brown can dance.

[Bagor]

The National Enquirer revealed it dropped a 2005 story about rape allegations against Bill Cosby after his lawyers threatened to sue the publication.

Lawyers acting for Bill Cosby cajoled the tabloid magazine the National Enquirer into ditching a groundbreaking investigation it had conducted into his alleged sexual misconduct and replacing it with a celebrity interview in which the comic dismissed the claims as money-motivated “misinterpretations”, the Guardian has learned.

The National Enquirer’s investigation was carried out in 2005, just weeks after it first emerged that Cosby had been accused of drugging and molesting a female friend, Andrea Constand. The tabloid magazine dispatched its senior reporter Robin Mizrahi to look into the story.

Mizrahi made contact with a second woman, Beth Ferrier, who alleged that she too had been drugged and sexually molested by the entertainer. The Enquirer brought Ferrier to Los Angeles from her home in Denver, where she was then working as a model, and Mizrahi interviewed her and arranged for her to undergo a lie detector test.

“She passed the polygraph test with flying colors,” Mizrahi told the Guardian. “She had a very, very detailed description of what allegedly happened which I still remember because it was so haunting. She said Cosby had stood over her and then she fell asleep because there was something in her coffee.”

Mizrahi, a Los Angeles-based writer who left the Enquirer in 2009 having worked there for nine years, filed her story in February 2005 based in large part on Ferrier’s allegations. But she was then informed by her editors that they had decided to kill it after the magazine came under pressure from Cosby’s lawyers, who threatened to sue.

Further details of the exchanges between Cosby’s team and executives at the National Enquirer are given in court documents lodged by Andrea Constand in the course of a civil lawsuit brought by her against Cosby’s lawyer and the magazine. The suit says that the Enquirer “provided a copy of the unpublished Beth Ferrier article to Cosby and his representatives”.

After negotiations between the two sides, carried out at a meeting between them in Houston, Texas, they agreed, according to the lawsuit, that “Cosby would provide an exclusive interview with the National Enquirer, if the National Enquirer would agree to refrain from printing the Beth Ferrier story”. On 21 February 2005 the deal was sealed, with Cosby granting the interview to the magazine.

The Enquirer’s decision to switch its own investigation with a soft-soap interview was reported by Mark Ebner in the Daily Beast this week.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-investigation

[ernie]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Chris Brown beat up Rihanna 5 years ago and it hasn't effect his career. It's so unpredictable sometimes how these things will impact celebrities or not.

Yes he did.

He also turned himself in, was charged, convicted (plea deal), and served his time.

Not saying he's a super duper guy but it is a completely different situation.

[troutman]

Bill Cosby Rape Accusers Speak Out: 'The Public's Mind Will Be Blown'

"He will go down as this generation's most prolific serial rapist"


http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...blown-20141121

Bowman, Green, Constand, all in national media 10 years ago, plus 10 Jane Does with similar stories — none of them mattered individually or collectively until comedian Hannibal Buress — a man, as Bowman pointed out — joked onstage about Cosby's rape accusers in a standup routine that somehow went viral.

[CaptainCrunch]

I only have the one problem in that coming out is awesome but at some point it has to go to the justice system, the accused has the right to face his accuser in the court of law.

Are we entering an age where its going to be about throwing accusations out in the press and then nothing happens from a justice system point of view because I'm not really cool about that.

And at this point the question has to be asked, is the accuser being paid by these papers and T.V. shows for her story.

A rapist is a rapist is a rapist, but there is a requirement for them to be able to mount a vigorous defense in front of a judge or a jury to be able to ensure that there aren't false acusations happening or shaming happening.

I'm not on Bill Cosby's side on this, I'm pretty sure that he's scummy based on what we've heard. But even he deserves a day in court where the facts are examined properly and impartially.

I go back to the accusations of the two liberal MPs for sexual harassment where they're not really being given their right to know what they're being accused of or having a chance to mount a defense.

[AcGold]

Assuming he's guilty is dangerous simply because it opens the door to ruining someone's life on a whim. If he's guilty, let the courts prove it. Innocent until proven guilty so that the innocent are not falsely accused on purpose. If 15 women are accusing him of rape let them testify in court and let the lawyers question them, if it's all one big lie the errors in the story will be apparent or he'll actually be guilty. I'm not supporting him but I am supporting the idea of a fair trial even for the scummiest parts of society.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by AcGold

Assuming he's guilty is dangerous simply because it opens the door to ruining someone's life on a whim. If he's guilty, let the courts prove it. Innocent until proven guilty so that the innocent are not falsely accused on purpose. If 15 women are accusing him of rape let them testify in court and let the lawyers question them, if it's all one big lie the errors in the story will be apparent or he'll actually be guilty. I'm not supporting him but I am supporting the idea of a fair trial even for the scummiest parts of society.

Except the cases can't go to trial, which is why he's being tried in a court of public opinion.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I only have the one problem in that coming out is awesome but at some point it has to go to the justice system, the accused has the right to face his accuser in the court of law.

Are we entering an age where its going to be about throwing accusations out in the press and then nothing happens from a justice system point of view because I'm not really cool about that.

And at this point the question has to be asked, is the accuser being paid by these papers and T.V. shows for her story.

A rapist is a rapist is a rapist, but there is a requirement for them to be able to mount a vigorous defense in front of a judge or a jury to be able to ensure that there aren't false acusations happening or shaming happening.

I'm not on Bill Cosby's side on this, I'm pretty sure that he's scummy based on what we've heard. But even he deserves a day in court where the facts are examined properly and impartially.

I go back to the accusations of the two liberal MPs for sexual harassment where they're not really being given their right to know what they're being accused of or having a chance to mount a defense.

Well the other part that rubs me the wrong way about this and cases where the victim doesn't come forward for decades is that the accused basically has nothing they can say. Like I said earlier, Cosby doesn't even seem to deny this, so its not him in particular. But if he were to to say he was innocent, and its been three decades, no one would believe him anyway. That's not right either.

[fatso]

I also don't think it's fair to count or rely on claims that were settled. They should not be considered as evidence, even in the court of public opinion. The alleged victims in those instances decided not to pursue their claims in exchange for money. That is the victim's choice, and I'm not being critical of them. But you can't go back now and say those are evidence of anything.

[nfotiu]

Lou ferigno's wife is now among the accusers. Hmm, he's not going to like him when he's angry.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/p...nese/70011214/

One thing about all these stories is that they've mostly been drugged. I imagine it is tough in a lot of these cases for the women to know exactly what happened to them and makes it even tougher to go forward.

It also moves him well beyond the "he doesn't know how to take no for an answer" serial date rapist to the pre mediated sexual predator.

And to the comments above, when your accusers number well into the double digits, and many of the accusers seem to be credible people who have no obvious reason to go after a quick buck, it seems very tough to give him any benefit of doubt whatsoever.

Also relevant is that his MO and victim selection both seem calculated in such a way to avoid prosecution.