Bill Cosby’s Silence on Rape Allegations /4/Damage his Image

Bill Cosby has been recently accused of sexual assault by two women including actress Barbara Bowman.

It can be said that Cosby has been an actor who has always been able to control the public conversation about him. Even his recent biography ‘Cosby: His Life and Time’ portrays Bill Cosby as a very talented performer who always took care of his business and career interests.

He was always ready for the journalists and industry executives who could harm his image or career. However this time it seems that Cosby has been taken by surprise as he has stayed quite on all the rape allegations that are being levied against him. Even in his interview with NPR’s Scott Simon, he stayed quite when asked about the allegations and only shook his head.

However his lawyer did provide with a statement that he posted on Cosby’s site saying that very old and baseless allegations are coming up against Cosby once again and because they are being repeated does not mean the allegations are true. He also stated that Cosby has no intention to make any statement against the allegations to prove him. 

Later we saw a joint statement from Cosby’s lawyer and Andrea Constand’s lawyer was posted on Cosby’s site and read, “The statement released by Mr. Cosby’s attorney over the weekend was not intended to refer in any way to Andrea Constand. As previously reported, differences between Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand were resolved to the mutual satisfaction of Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand years ago.”

Andrea Constand and Bill Cosby have in 2006 settled a law suit when Andrea had accused that Cosby had sexually assaulted him. 

However the silence of Mr. Cosby has not gone unnoticed and has created media frenzy. The story has been covered by NBC’s Today show, CNN, USA Today and The Washington Post. Over the weekend Joan Tarshis, a publicist, also revealed her secret and alleged that she has also been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby when she was 19 years old.

Even the lawsuit that was filed by Andrea Constand in 2005 included 13 other women, who were willing to tell similar stories, but the lawsuit was settled and no details were made public.  

The new generation seems has started to question Cosby’s image and are very active on the social media which includes Facebook and Twitter. They are pressing that sexually assaulted victims should be heard properly.

Moreover the two recent accusers Joan and Barbara Bowman have suggested that the new family serial that NBC is making with Cosby should not go any further. Plus it seems that Cosby /4/have trouble in appearing in such a major serial after all the allegations and the way media can tilt public opinion nowadays. Cosby has also cancelled his schedule interviews with ‘Queen Latifah Show’ and ‘Late Show with David Letterman’. 

For any serial to be a hit public appearances are very necessary and it seems that Cosby is just doing the opposite. Keeping silent would further harm his image and career. Let’s see whether Cosby makes a comeback!