Quote: (11-19-2014 01:28 PM)Badamson Wrote:
Quote: (11-19-2014 11:51 AM)Deluge Wrote:
It came into the spotlight again because of the video of Hannibal Burress's stand up skit, his accusers weren't the ones who instigated it. Also I think only two or three have actually made their names public. They might cash in now that it's gotten big but if they were accusing a celebrity of rape to shake him down I don't see why they wouldn't have sued too after the first woman got a settlement, unless he payed them all off on the downlow before they could and made them sign non-disclosure agreements.
Exactly. They really have no motive to be making this stuff up at this point. I don't see how they could be doing it for attention and fame if 12 or 13 of them aren't even making their names public. Maybe 1 or 2 might be playing that angle at most. That's the problem. There are too many accusers with the same story. The statute of limitations has expired on most if not all of these, so they can't sue him for money or try to press charges. It's not as though these are a bunch of race PC hustlers angry about the "pound cake" speech. They are mostly a bunch of middle aged white broads off doing their own thing. This kind of stuff used to happen all the time in Hollywood, to young women and men. Just ask Corey Feldman.
They might not have a personal motive. But they are playing into a trend. That trend is to go back and look at men's behavior from 30-40 years ago when morals were different, compare it with today's morality, and then call it criminal.
In the UK, this happened with both Jonathan King and Jimmy Savile. Do I think Cosby did something wrong? It's likely, but cops and prosecutors love nothing more than nabbing celebrities -- and if they dismissed the cases as flimsy, my guess is they were.
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We're starting to reach total hysteria on this. At Raw Story, veteran writer Dana Kennedy just penned an article titled (get this): "Bill Cosby didn’t rape me but what he did has always given me the creeps."
I pasted it below. But if you don't feel like reading it, the gist is that he was rude to her and a bit petty. She's acting like he's the Devil incarnate. As I said, peak hysteria. I've interviewed hundreds of celebrities and quite a few were nasty. That's the nature of the game.
Note the opening paragraph.
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"Bill Cosby didn’t rape me but what he did has always given me the creeps."
"By Dana Kennedy
I have zero evidence that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted or made unwanted sexual advances on anyone. But I do believe the growing number of women coming forward to say they were raped by Cosby or that he made unwanted sexual advances toward them. Here’s why…
Bill Cosby never hit on me and was never seductive in any way. But I remember how intimidating and menacing he was all the same. I met him when I was assigned to write a feature story on him for the Associated Press in February 1992.
He was at the peak of his powers when I was ushered into his dressing room at the Kaufman Astoria studios in Queens. The groundbreaking Cosby Show, one of the most successful TV series of all time, was in its eighth and final season. The year before, this 54-year-old son of an alcoholic father who grew up in a North Philadelphia housing project had made $113 million.
He didn’t say hello. He had his game face on, or maybe that’s his only face off-camera. His first three words were: “I don’t pose” — meaning for photographs. There was no other kind of welcome.
I’ve interviewed hundreds of celebrities and other notables over the years, including such notoriously difficult people as Dennis Rodman and Mickey Rourke. The majority of interview subjects are remarkably professional and pleasant. I spent close to four hours in Jack Nicholson’s home on Mulholland Drive when I was profiling him for The New York Times.
Despite his longtime rep as a hopeless womanizer, which Anjelica Huston has just reminded us of again in her new book, Nicholson was a total gentleman. He rarely gives print interviews and admitted he felt that he had more control on television. Cosby told me the same thing. But whatever Nicholson’s issues were with the media, he gave me no attitude nor made any advances during our time together.
However, as I wrote in my ensuing article about Bill Cosby, “the tension in the air was remarkably thick” as Cosby immediately took control of our interview by treating me to a fairly hostile 14-minute discourse on why he distrusted the press. (You can find the article online.) Cosby’s attitude was especially bewildering because he usually got good press. He was for years one of the most beloved performers in show business.
“Tell me what you want to ask and we’ll see how it goes,” he told me, speaking slowly and measuring his words. “If it doesn’t go well, I’ll give you a piece of fruit. I’ll give you an apple or pear and you can be on your way.”
My questions apparently passed muster, although as I wrote, Cosby “controls the interview by stretching each answer into a lengthy soliloquy.”
The interview was so unusual and uncomfortable that it seeped into the article I wrote. It’s hard to know how else I could have written it. The substance of what he said took a back seat to the atmosphere Cosby created between us. He was a very scary guy.
Less than a week after the story was published, I received a package at AP’s world headquarters, which was then at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. This was years before 9-11 so of course I opened it without trepidation.
Inside was a sheet of paper with three typed words: “Here’s your apple.” The signature in black ink read “Bill Cosby.” And wrapped in a paper towel was indeed an apple, dried and withered.
I marveled at the time that a man in his position would go to the trouble of locating a dead apple, placing it in a paper towel, finding out the address of the Associated Press and mailing it to me.
Bill Cosby may not be responding to the allegations against him but I wish he’d tell me, among other things, where he even found an old, withered apple.
Did he keep a store of dying fruit with him at all times to send to errant reporters? Did he assign a flunky to get the apple, type out the letter and bring it to him to sign or did he do it himself?
I wonder if I’ll get anything in the mail this time.
Dana Kennedy is an American journalist based in Paris, Nice, and New York City. She has anchored and reported for CNN, ABC News, MSNBC, CNBC and Fox News. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times, Time magazine, People, the Daily Beast, Huffington Post, the Hollywood Reporter, Huffington Post France, Departures magazine and more. Her first reporting job was at the Palm Springs Desert Sun. The best job she ever had was at the New York City bureau of the Associated Press. She divides her time between France and the U.S."