By VennerRoad, 17th Jan 2015
The quantity of allegations against Bill Cosby seems impression, the quality, far less so.
Cosby in 2006
In October last year, the American comedian Hannibal Buress cracked a joke about Bill Cosby raping women, the video went viral, and the US media – and to some extent the world media – has since been deluged with allegation after allegation, many from the original scandal in 2005, but half, now more than half, are new allegations. New in the sense that they had not been raised before, but some date back to the 1960s.
In the UK, Cosby would almost certainly have been arrested by now, although the press coverage would have been muted probably by direct intervention of the Attorney General. Unwisely, the UK has no statute of limitations, but in the US there have been calls for it to be removed to facilitate the prosecution of the now 77 year old Cosby. Indeed, there have already been attempts to get round it on technicalities. For the most part, Cosby himself, his family and friends have said nothing; the talking has been left to Cosby’s lawyer, who has said little, but the little he has said has largely negated the more outrageous claims.
Commentators in both the mainstream and alternative media have been mightily impressed with the volume of allegations. After all, two or three of Cosby’s accusers might be lying but not every single one of them, right? This is known as corroboration by volume, and it has become standard practice in both the US and the UK with allegations of this nature when charged in a criminal court. Alternatively it might be called throwing mud until some of it sticks, and a great deal has been thrown at Bill Cosby. Now though it appears there are cracks in the fabric, many of his accusers have been shown to be not simply women of easy virtue but outright liars.
Cosby’s latest accuser of note is Chloe Goins, who is much younger than all the others, she claims to have been drugged and sexually assaulted at the Playboy Mansion as recently as 2008. Her allegations were reported uncritically by the London Daily Mail – now an international publication, on January 14.
According to the Mail, this will be a huge blow for Cosby. But will it? Unlike most of Cosby’s accusers, Miss Goins has been so bold as to provide a specific date for this phantom sexual assault, it happened she said, at a Playboy Mansion party. However, according to Cosby’s lawyer Martin Singer in a USA Today report, January 16, there is definitive, documentary proof that Cosby was not at the Playboy Mansion on the date concerned. When Miss Goins first made her allegation last December, one report revealed that far from being a young woman in pursuit of justice and accountability as her lawyer claims, she was arrested at Las Vegas in 2011 for soliciting prostitution.
Another Cosby accuser has fallen foul of this law; Chelan Lasha is a convicted prostitute who also has convictions for assault, theft, and perhaps most significantly false reporting. Although she wept tearfully at a press conference organised by Gloria Allred, she does not seem the type of woman who would take rape lying down, even if she had been drugged.
Like Chloe Goins, Cosby accuser Louisa Moritz was so bold as to give a specific date for his alleged assault on her: August 23, 1971 on The Tonight Show. However, according to the Internet Movie Database, although Miss Moritz did indeed appear on the programme that night, Cosby did not.
Two of Cosby’s accusers – Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson – have appeared on the front cover of the fashion magazine Vogue but that is where their credibility ends. Miss Dickinson has a long history of both alcohol and drug abuse; a few years ago she appeared on a reality TV show where she combined these substances, and fell down a flight of stairs. Would she really have needed Cosby to administer drugs to her in order to lose consciousness?
As for Miss Johnson, who claims to have escaped Cosby’s clutches after being drugged by him, like Miss Dickinson she never had a bad word to say about him before Hannibal Buress ignited this firestorm. Also, both Miss Johnson’s former lover and her manager have pooh poohed her claims. The latter, Don Gibble, has accused her outright of lying.
Could all Cosby’s accusers be lying? A statute of limitations exists to prevent the unwarranted persecution of the innocent. If someone accuses you today of rape or any other offence ten, twenty or thirty years ago, how do you prove your innocence? That was what was asked of Rolf Harris, Max Clifford and Dave Lee Travis. And if a series of demented women comes forward making the same or similar allegation? Sadly, the legal authorities in the UK appear now to be more concerned with securing convictions than with dispensing justice. The bulk of the allegations against Bill Cosby can probably be neither proved nor disproved, but if as a woman you wouldn’t want Cosby to make you your favourite cappucchino, as a man you wouldn’t want to share an empty elevator with any of his accusers.
A detailed analysis of the Cosby scandal can be found in this 85 minute documentary.
To Wikinut Articles Page