Bill Cosby Rape Allegations

Bill Cosby has recently been accused by at least 20 or so women of sexual assault dating back to the late 1960's. Considering the fact that he was probably one of, if not the most famous comedian on the planet 30 years ago, this is the American equivalent of the Jimmy Saville scandal. And the strange thing is, the whole thing came to light from a stand-up routine by Hannibal Buress.

And here's a timeline of how the allegations have progressed: http://www.vulture.com/m/2014/09/timeline-of-the-abuse-charges-against-cosby.html

 

[Micheal Scarn]

This might sound strange, but I can't help but wonder what the media coverage will be like when Cosby dies. If it were to happen a year and a bit ago before anyone knew about this, they would have been praising him nonstop for being a comedy trailblazer and all that. But now that we know about the terrible things he did in his past, I wonder what the news networks will be like.

 

[AnOminous]

This might sound strange, but I can't help but wonder what the media coverage will be like when Cosby dies. If it were to happen a year and a bit ago before anyone knew about this, they would have been praising him nonstop for being a comedy trailblazer and all that. But now that we know about the terrible things he did in his past, I wonder what the news networks will be like.

He probably won't have the thing where they build a giant monument for him, then it's vandalized and ripped down. That happened to Jimmy Savile, because the BBC was successful in covering up his decades-long child molesting rampage, so he got all that posthumous glory followed shortly afterward by exposure.

So the damage to his reputation is already done before he dies in this case.

 

[Micheal Scarn]

He probably won't have the thing where they build a giant monument for him, then it's vandalized and ripped down. That happened to Jimmy Savile, because the BBC was successful in covering up his decades-long child molesting rampage, so he got all that posthumous glory followed shortly afterward by exposure.

So the damage to his reputation is already done before he dies in this case.

Definitely.

I also wonder what his wife thinks of all this. Either she believes him when he lies about being innocent, or she's fine with it.

 

[Marvin]

I also wonder what his wife thinks of all this. Either she believes him when he lies about being innocent, or she's fine with it.

It's probably some bullshit where she characterizes him as having been a "womanizer".

 

[Ravenor]

He probably won't have the thing where they build a giant monument for him, then it's vandalized and ripped down. That happened to Jimmy Savile, because the BBC was successful in covering up his decades-long child molesting rampage, so he got all that posthumous glory followed shortly afterward by exposure.

So the damage to his reputation is already done before he dies in this case.

Yea the whole Sir Jimmy thing was disgusting, when he died they brought back "Jim'll fix it" show where they trotted out the taking heads and gave him the full on BBC Luvvie treatment, knowing full fucking well that the subject of the complicity of the BBC and the depths of what he did was getting talked about really openly and it's bit them in the arse hard.

 

[MalWart]

This might sound strange, but I can't help but wonder what the media coverage will be like when Cosby dies. If it were to happen a year and a bit ago before anyone knew about this, they would have been praising him nonstop for being a comedy trailblazer and all that. But now that we know about the terrible things he did in his past, I wonder what the news networks will be like.

I have a feeling it will be like what happened when Michael Jackson died, where the people who were disgusted by him will suddenly celebrate him like an idol.

 

[Sweet and Savoury]

So much for just allegations

He's been formally charged and is now out on a 1 million dollar bail.

Creepy...

 

[AnOminous]

So much for just allegations

He's been formally charged and is now out on a 1 million dollar bail.

Creepy...

A million dollars bail is more because bail is often set by the wealth of the defendant, not necessarily their perceived flight risk. It's not meant to punish the defendant before trial, but to be an amount that would hurt enough to give up that the defendant will choose to show up.

I hope the prosecutor knows what they're doing here. It would be a pretty huge black eye to lose this and you can bet Cosby is going to defend it to the utmost.

I have a feeling it will be like what happened when Michael Jackson died, where the people who were disgusted by him will suddenly celebrate him like an idol.

Jackson was more deserving of sympathy. He was never given even a chance at any kind of normal life. His behavior was bizarre and inappropriate by any normal standards, but even an obsessed prosecutor with unlimited funds was unable to prove the most serious allegations against him. Twice.

I've always more blamed the parents of those kids, because there was no way they thought it was kosher to leave kids alone with some incredibly weird guy who obviously had serious issues. They were just trying to cash in on Jackson, like pretty much everyone in his miserable, fucked up, lonely life.

If the allegations against Cosby are true, and they really look like it, he was and is a calculating, sociopathic monster.

 

[Holdek]

I hope the prosecutor knows what they're doing here. It would be a pretty huge black eye to lose this and you can bet Cosby is going to defend it to the utmost.

It seems like it would be hard to prove a sexual assault case of more than ten years old, beyond a reasonable doubt unless there's damning evidence we don't know about yet. The prosecutor may be gambling on it being impossible to select a jury that is unaware of the public accusations of all those women.

 

[AnOminous]

It seems like it would be hard to prove a sexual assault case of more than ten years old, beyond a reasonable doubt unless there's damning evidence we don't know about yet.

Victim testimony will be of the utmost importance. Whether or not it should be the case, that is what secures many criminal convictions. People have been convicted of outright murder based on even more questionable eyewitness identifications without any physical evidence at all.

Also, considering it would put Cosby behind bars the rest of his life, he might plead to something lesser.

I hope this isn't just an attention whoring prosecution for political reasons. While Cosby's lawyers are suggesting that already, obviously they would take that tack.

 

[Holdek]

People have been convicted of outright murder based on even more questionable eyewitness identifications without any physical evidence at all.

But even defendents with the kind of legal team Cosby will be able to afford?

 

[AnOminous]

But even defendents with the kind of legal team Cosby will be able to afford?

Usually not. The main capital crime is having a shitty lawyer.

 

[Massif]

Either

A.) Cosby is lying, and he's actually raped women
B.) The women are lying, and they're leveling false accusations of rape for personal gain.
C.) Cosby has raped some women, but other women are jumping on the publicity bandwagon and leveling false accusations of rape for personal gain.

It's one of those depressing situations where no matter what the truth is, someone is being, or has been a vile piece of shit.

Gonna go with C on this one, it seems highly unlikely that he DINDU NUFFIN but at the same time cases like these seem to be crawling with opportunists.
I'm convinced there are far more celebrities who are guilty of varying degrees of sexual abuse. They just have such easy access and so much power over people due to the sick celebrity cult the west has cultivated. Put a sociopath and/or sexual deviant in a successful band and they basically have free reign over their fans.

 

[AnOminous]

Gonna go with C on this one, it seems highly unlikely that he DINDU NUFFIN but at the same time cases like these seem to be crawling with opportunists.
I'm convinced there are far more celebrities who are guilty of varying degrees of sexual abuse. They just have such easy access and so much power over people due to the sick celebrity cult the west has cultivated. Put a sociopath and/or sexual deviant in a successful band and they basically have free reign over their fans.

It's one thing to have sex with a lot of groupies because they actually want to have sex with you.

It's another to constantly rape people by drugging them into unconsciousness and then fucking them.

 

[Some JERK]

Gonna go with C on this one, it seems highly unlikely that he DINDU NUFFIN but at the same time cases like these seem to be crawling with opportunists.
I'm convinced there are far more celebrities who are guilty of varying degrees of sexual abuse. They just have such easy access and so much power over people due to the sick celebrity cult the west has cultivated. Put a sociopath and/or sexual deviant in a successful band and they basically have free reign over their fans.

I think there's something to the "celebrity cult" argument, but not exactly in the way you put it forth. Rather than leaving people so star-struck that they're somehow powerless to say no, the cult of celebrity fosters a sense of entitlement in a lot of celebrities themselves where they start to feel as if their desires are owed them, and so what if they just take what they want? I'm not saying that's what's happened here (mainly because I don't actually know what's happened here.) It could just be that Cosby is, and always has been a shitbag-rapist. But surrounding people with sycophants and adoration must take its toll at some point. If "affluenza" was a successful psychological argument, then I can imagine a defense predicated on that notion.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Gonna go with C on this one, it seems highly unlikely that he DINDU NUFFIN but at the same time cases like these seem to be crawling with opportunists.
I'm convinced there are far more celebrities who are guilty of varying degrees of sexual abuse. They just have such easy access and so much power over people due to the sick celebrity cult the west has cultivated. Put a sociopath and/or sexual deviant in a successful band and they basically have free reign over their fans.

Yeah, that feels like the most possible option too. I can buy that maybe he raped some people. But not that many. Making me wonder just how many of these women are telling the truth or flat out lying just to get some money.

 

[KFC]

This might sound strange, but I can't help but wonder what the media coverage will be like when Cosby dies. If it were to happen a year and a bit ago before anyone knew about this, they would have been praising him nonstop for being a comedy trailblazer and all that. But now that we know about the terrible things he did in his past, I wonder what the news networks will be like.

The thing is, people have come forward about Bill Cosby raping them before this. IIRC about 3 women accused Cosby of raping them in 2004-2005. I remember reading an article about it on Snopes a few years back.

When he dies, I think that Bill Cosby will be remembered as a celebrated comedian with a tainted legacy. Same thing will probably happen with Chuck Berry or someone like that. I never really cared about him before this, and I don't really care about him now.

 

[ColorfulCassowary]

Looking through all the comment sections of the articles on this, I'm surprised that I was the only one who found Cosby unfunny Btw, there was this one comment section of this one article when this revelation first came about, filled to the brim with raging mras bitching about how the women were whores who were just in it for the publicity, one confusingly calling the stand up comic that started this ordeal a "crab". I can't find it, so you guys are going to have to trust me.

Gonna go with C on this one, it seems highly unlikely that he DINDU NUFFIN but at the same time cases like these seem to be crawling with opportunists.
I'm convinced there are far more celebrities who are guilty of varying degrees of sexual abuse. They just have such easy access and so much power over people due to the sick celebrity cult the west has cultivated. Put a sociopath and/or sexual deviant in a successful band and they basically have free reign over their fans.

Yeah, I agree with this one. There are at least a couple of them that are bullshitting, but Cosby's no saint.

 

[Sperglord Dante]

Yeah, that feels like the most possible option too. I can buy that maybe he raped some people. But not that many. Making me wonder just how many of these women are telling the truth or flat out lying just to get some money.

While I agree that many of these alleged victims are opportunists (perhaps most of them are) I think Cosby could still have raped dozens of women.

Cosby is older than time itself, 40 accusers equal to less than one incident per year. For someone as socially active in hollywood as Cosby, meeting pretty, young women like aspiring actresses on a constant basis should be pretty easy; I imagined he attended like 5 parties a week in his heyday.

 

[Trilby]

Jackson was more deserving of sympathy. He was never given even a chance at any kind of normal life. His behavior was bizarre and inappropriate by any normal standards, but even an obsessed prosecutor with unlimited funds was unable to prove the most serious allegations against him. Twice.

I've always more blamed the parents of those kids, because there was no way they thought it was kosher to leave kids alone with some incredibly weird guy who obviously had serious issues. They were just trying to cash in on Jackson, like pretty much everyone in his miserable, fucked up, lonely life.

I felt the same way too. Obviously Michael's story is one that could've been different had it went another way once you look into it.