BILL COSBY’S “WELCOME TO JAIL” MEAL INCLUDES JELLO PUDDING (3-10 YRS):
COSBY 81, AN EXAMPLE OF EACH HUMAN BEING EVENTUALLY REAPING WHAT THEY HAVE SOWN IN THIS LIFE.....GOOD OR BAD.
TAKE HEED LEST YOU ALSO FALL.
Post Sources: Fox News, TMZ, Youtube
***** Bill Cosby had pudding in first prison meal: report
Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby reportedly had vanilla pudding as part of his first meal in a state prison after being sentenced three to 10 years on Tuesday.
Cosby, 81, now known as Inmate No. NN7687, will serve his sentence at SCI Phoenix, a new state prison in Schwenksville, Pa.
TMZ reported Cosby was served a chicken patty with gravy, vegetables, mashed potatoes and vanilla pudding for dessert.
Cosby famously appeared in a number of Jello commercials in the 1980s and 1990s, but it was not immediately clear if he was served Jello brand pudding in prison.
The former television superstar, who traded on a squeaky clean, fatherly image, was sentenced after being found guilty of three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault in April in one of the most widely publicized trials in modern history.
The once revered comedian was found guilty of sexual assault in April for drugging Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, in his Philadelphia home in 2004.
UPDATED, 12:20 PM: The back-and-forth continues between Morgan Freeman and CNN over the news org’s expose about him. Here is the actor’s attorney Robert Schwartz’s response to CNN’s latest statement:
“We presented CNN with objective evidence, including videotapes and on-the-record denials by the claimed “victims,” that the alleged incident that gave rise to the story never happened. We proved to CNN, beyond any doubt, that the whole story was built on fakery. The credibility of the entire CNN attack on Mr. Freeman has now been undermined. And in choosing to ignore all of the evidence that we presented, CNN has confirmed our concerns about its reporters, its lack of oversight, and its gross misconduct in unjustifiably attacking Mr. Freeman.”
PREVIOUSLY, 9:18 AM: CNN has rebutted Morgan Freeman’s demand for a retraction, saying it stands by its report that multiple women accuse him of harassing them or behaving inappropriately on set, while promoting his movies, and at his production company.
“The unfounded accusations made by Mr. Freeman’s lawyer are disappointing and are difficult to reconcile with Mr. Freeman’s own public statements in the aftermath of the story,” the cable news network said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
“CNN stands by its reporting and will respond forcefully to any attempt by Mr. Freeman or his representatives to intimidate us from covering this important public issue,” the network added.
Hours earlier, Robert M. Schwartz of Irell & Manella, has emailed a 10-page letter to CNN chief Jeff Zucker, implying that this might become a lawsuit.
In its report, published last week, the cable news organization said eight women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. CNN interviewed 16 people for its report, including some who said they witnessed the behavior.
One production assistant said she was subjected to unwanted touching and comments about her figure and clothing on a nearly daily basis, including one incident in which the 80-year-old actor allegedly “kept trying to lift up my skirt” while inquiring if she was wearing underwear.
Freeman, who has lost endorsements and has said he is devastated by the accusations, initially apologized and but then clarified. In his letter to Zucker, Schwartz wrote, “It has been said that ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.’ In just the few days since CNN published the article on Mr. Freeman, it has traveled all the way around the world and back, millions of times. If CNN has any decency, or any allegiance to journalistic integrity, it will immediate retract the article and issue a public apology to Mr. Freeman.”
A young production assistant thought she had landed the job of her dreams when, in the summer of 2015, she started work on "Going In Style," a bank heist comedy starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin.
But the job quickly devolved into several months of harassment, she told CNN. She alleges that Freeman subjected her to unwanted touching and comments about her figure and clothing on a near-daily basis. Freeman would rest his hand on her lower back or rub her lower back, she said.
In one incident, she said, Freeman "kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear." He never successfully lifted her skirt, she said -- he would touch it and try to lift it, she would move away, and then he'd try again.
Eventually, she said, "Alan [Arkin] made a comment telling him to stop. Morgan got freaked out and didn't know what to say."
Freeman's alleged inappropriate behavior was not limited to that one movie set, according to other sources who spoke to CNN. A woman who was a senior member of the production staff of the movie "Now You See Me" in 2012 told CNN that Freeman sexually harassed her and her female assistant on numerous occasions by making comments about their bodies.
"He did comment on our bodies... We knew that if he was coming by ... not to wear any top that would show our breasts, not to wear anything that would show our bottoms, meaning not wearing clothes that [were] fitted," she said.
At 80 years old, Freeman is one of Hollywood's biggest stars, with a movie career that spans nearly five decades. His starring roles in movies like "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Shawshank Redemption" in the late 1980s and early 1990s made him a household name.
He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for 2004's "Million Dollar Baby," and has earned four other Oscar nominations. His voiceover work has also become iconic, including his narration for the Academy Award-winning documentaries "The Long Way Home" and "March of the Penguins."
In all, 16 people spoke to CNN about Freeman as part of this investigation, eight of whom said they were victims of what some called harassment and others called inappropriate behavior by Freeman. Eight said they witnessed Freeman's alleged conduct.
These 16 people together described a pattern of inappropriate behavior by Freeman on set, while promoting his movies and at his production company Revelations Entertainment.
Of those 16, seven people described an environment at Revelations Entertainment that included allegations of harassment or inappropriate behavior by Freeman there, with one incident allegedly witnessed by Lori McCreary, Freeman's co-founder in the enterprise, and another in which she was the target of demeaning comments by Freeman in a public setting.
One of those seven people alleged that McCreary made a discriminatory remark regarding a female candidate for a job at the Producers Guild of America, where McCreary is co-president.
Four people who worked in production capacities on movie sets with Freeman over the last ten years described him as repeatedly behaving in ways that made women feel uncomfortable at work. Two, including the production assistant on "Going in Style" whose skirt he allegedly attempted to lift, said Freeman subjected them to unwanted touching.
Three said he made public comments about women's clothing or bodies. But each of them said they didn't report Freeman's behavior, with most saying it was because they feared for their jobs. Instead, some of the women -- both on movie sets and at Revelations -- said, they came up with ways to combat the alleged harassment on their own, such as by changing the way they dressed when they knew he would be around.
CNN reached out to dozens more people who worked for or with Freeman. Some praised Freeman, saying they never witnessed any questionable behavior or that he was a consummate professional on set and in the office.
Several other times during this investigation, when a CNN reporter contacted a person who had worked with Freeman to try to ask them if they had seen or been subjected to inappropriate behavior by an actor they had worked with -- not initially even naming the actor they were asking about -- the person would immediately tell them they knew exactly who the reporter had in mind: Morgan Freeman.
Some of those people were sources for this investigation while others declined to comment further or did not want what they said used in this story.
The pattern of behavior described by those who spoke with CNN shows another example of the systematic problems that exist in the entertainment industry. The allegations against Freeman are not about things that happened in private; they are about things that allegedly happened in public, in front of witnesses -- even in front of cameras.
Before #MeToo, many men in the industry could behave without fear of consequences, because many times when a powerful man did so, it was the victim who suffered repercussions.
CNN reached out to Freeman's spokesperson for comment and then, at his request, emailed him a detailed list of the accusations against Freeman. The spokesperson did not respond to multiple follow-ups by email seeking comment on the accusations.
After this article was published, Freeman released a statement in which he said, "Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent."
CNN also reached out to a spokesperson for McCreary, and then provided her with a detailed list of accusations regarding Freeman's alleged behavior at Revelations and details of the accusation against her as well as a number of questions for her regarding Freeman's alleged behavior at Revelations and the environment there.
The spokesperson did not respond to multiple follow-ups by email seeking comment.
The allegations of inappropriate behavior by Freeman are not limited to the confines of his company or to movie sets. Three entertainment reporters who spoke to CNN said Freeman made inappropriate remarks to them during press junkets, which are publicity events for journalists who cover new films, typically attended by the movie's biggest stars.
One of the three, CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas, the co-author of this article, says she was subjected to inappropriate behavior by Freeman more than a year ago, when she interviewed him at a press junket for "Going in Style."
According to Melas, who was six months pregnant at the time, Freeman, in a room full of people, including his co-stars Arkin and Caine, shook Melas' hand, not letting go while repeatedly looking her up and down and saying more than once a variation of, "I wish I was there." She says he also said to her, "You are ripe." Cameras were on and recording during one of Freeman's remarks to Melas -- "Boy, do I wish I was there" -- but not for the rest. As is common practice with such junkets, Melas was the only CNN employee there at the time.
Afterward, Melas reported what had happened to her supervisor, who instructed her to inform CNN human resources. According to Melas, she was told that CNN HR contacted their counterparts at human resources for Warner Bros., which produced and distributed the movie, and which like CNN is owned by Time Warner. Melas said she was also told that Warner Bros.
HR could not corroborate the account because only one of Freeman's remarks was on video and the Warner Bros. employees present did not notice anything.
Melas and her supervisor agreed that she would not cover the movie.
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. confirmed that what Melas was told was accurate, but declined to comment further. A representative for Caine declined to comment. A representative for Arkin said he was not available for comment.
After the encounter with Freeman, Melas started making calls to see if other women had experienced anything similar, or whether this was an isolated incident. She soon learned that other women had similar stories -- and so she, and later her co-author, began this months-long reporting process.
Freeman and Lori McCreary founded Revelations Entertainment in 1996. Variety reported last year that Freeman started the company with McCreary because he was frustrated by the lack of choice roles for black actors and because he wanted to reveal the truth about serious issues -- a mission that inspired the name "Revelations."
The company's credits include a list of ambitious films about religion, apartheid, astronomy and stem cell research. Revelations also produced the film "Along Came a Spider" and the hit CBS show "Madam Secretary," both of which feature strong female leads.
But former staffers who spoke with CNN say that behind the façade of a progressive and artistic agenda the company's two founders created what one called a "toxic" work environment.
Six former staffers said they witnessed Freeman's questionable behavior around women, which they said included sexual comments and one said included an incident of unsolicited touching. One female former staffer said she was the target of sexual comments by Freeman.
The female former employee at Revelations told CNN that Freeman was flanked by a group of men on the set of "Through the Wormhole" when she met the actor for the first time. He "looked me up and down," she said, and then asked her, "How do you feel about sexual harassment?"
"I was stunned," she told CNN. "This is the person that I worked for, this is his company, I didn't expect it at all ... I said timidly, 'I love it' in a sarcastic way hoping to make light of the situation because I was so confused and then he turned to the guys on the crew ... and said, 'See guys, this is how you do it.'"
One woman who was a manager at Revelations told CNN that sometimes Freeman would "come over to my desk to say hi and he'd just stand there and stare at me. He would stare at my breasts."
"If I ever passed him he would stare at me in an awkward way, would look me up and down sometimes stopping and just staring," she said. "One time he stopped, looked me up and down as I walked into a room of people, and everyone burst out laughing. And I literally froze feeling very uncomfortable and one of the people in the office said, 'Don't worry, that's just Morgan.'"
"That sort of interaction was when I stopped wearing a skirt around the office when he was there," said the former manager. "I can't say it was an accident that I'd be wearing a potato sack and a ponytail on certain days when he was there and do my best to avoid him when he was in the office."
Freeman was not in the office on a daily basis, the former employees said.
But when he did show up, he behaved like a "creepy uncle," in the words of a male former employee. "One time I witnessed Morgan walk up to an intern and start massaging her" shoulder, he said. "The intern got visibly red and wiggled out of his grasp, it was awkward." The incident stood out to him because Freeman was using only one hand to touch the intern, as his other was injured in a 2008 car accident that was widely covered by the press.
Another former employee told CNN she was present when the male former employee told several people about this incident shortly after it occurred.
CNN spoke to two male witnesses who each saw a separate occasion in which Freeman asked women to twirl. One instance occurred at the office, while another happened at an off-site company event.
Another incident stood out to people who spoke with CNN who witnessed it. Two former staffers who were there, and a writer for the show "Madam Secretary" who also attended, each described the scene to CNN.
For his 79th birthday, Revelations threw Freeman a party in the office. According to the sources, roughly 30 people attended the party, some of whom were new to the company and had never met the actor. McCreary was among those in attendance, the sources said.
People at the party had to stand in a circle, a former executive at the company who attended the party told CNN, and tell Freeman who they were and what they did.
Then, the former executive said, Freeman went up to women in the circle and would "stand maybe within an inch of their face and just look them up and down and not say anything, and then would move on to the next woman and he'd stand like within an inch of their face and look them up and down and not say anything, and it was really, really strange." The former executive added, "It was really weird and he did it to every woman but of course he didn't do it to any of the men. He didn't speak to any of the men."
The writer for "Madam Secretary" who was at the party said, "We saw Morgan go around to the girls in the circle and get really close to their faces, he didn't do it to the men. I don't know what he said but we all thought it was strange and couldn't wait to get the hell out of there. Absolutely there were sexual undertones to it."
After the #MeToo movement began, the same writer said, writers on the show joked -- with that incident in mind -- "that Morgan would be the next person to be called out."
McCreary herself has also been the subject of demeaning comments by Freeman. In front of what was reportedly an audience of 400 people at 2016's Produced By conference, Freeman described what she was wearing during their first meeting, saying, "She had on a dress cut to here."
"She wants to be thought of as serious," said Freeman of McCreary, who was on the same panel. "But you can't get away from the short dresses."
Freeman stood by his comments when he appeared a few days later on the "Today" show and host Savannah Guthrie said some people were "surprised" by the remarks he made on the panel.
"It was just something I said in jest about when I first met her, it was more than 20 years ago," he said to Guthrie. "How is that news?"
The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time that McCreary "did not visibly react to the comment." One of the former Revelations executives told CNN that McCreary was visibly upset when she returned to the office.
"I tried to console her and she was clearly upset and I think she was surprised and found it hurtful and embarrassing," said the former executive. "She was devastated."
Five sources told CNN that there was no formal human resources department at Revelations at the time. There was a rotation of executives who served as the point of contact for HR issues, but former staffers said they did not feel comfortable talking to senior personnel about their workplace grievances.
This prompted some staffers to form a "survivors club" where they gathered to vent about their experiences at Revelations, according to five sources who have been to the gatherings, which take place outside of the office.
Publicly, McCreary champions the #MeToo and Time's Up movements.
Two days before January's Screen Actors Guild awards, at which Freeman accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award, McCreary released a statement on behalf of the Producers Guild of America (PGA), to say that its board ratified new anti-sexual harassment guidelines for its members.
"The PGA is indebted to Time's Up as a resource in creating our protocols," she said in a press release issued with her co-president Gary Lucchesi, referring to the initiative aimed at fighting harassment and discrimination against women.
Yet the former Revelations employee who said Freeman asked her how she felt about sexual harassment also alleged that on a phone call with a member of PGA, McCreary said of a candidate vying for a position at PGA East, "she'll never be able to do a good job, she has a family."
Two former senior level Revelations employees said McCreary would openly mock women who had to leave work early for family commitments and school functions. McCreary also allegedly said that some employees couldn't handle big workloads because they had to "run home" to their families and therefore couldn't stay late at work, according to one of the sources. She openly advocated for work-life balance, that source said, but she would make "snide" remarks to those who left work early.
A spokesperson for the PGA said in a statement, "The Producers Guild of America is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not question or consider marital or parental status in its hiring practices. As soon as CNN notified us about the allegation, we investigated the matter and have found that it has no merit. Lori McCreary is an outstanding PGA President. In all of her work with the Guild, she has been a consistent, vocal, and proactive advocate for women and all who are underrepresented in our community."
A spokesperson for McCreary did not respond to repeated follow-up requests for comment regarding the allegations against McCreary.
One of the former male Revelations employees recounted to CNN what he called the "shocking" remarks that Freeman made while he was on set for a number of Freeman's movies.
What he says he witnessed follows the pattern described by the women who said they were harassed by Freeman.
"[He'd say] things like 'I'd like to have an hour with her' or make vulgar and sexual comments about women," the former employee said. "He would be verbally inappropriate and it was just shocking.
You're more shocked than anything because it's hard to have the wherewithal to say to him 'That's inappropriate.' You're just like 'whoa.' It's hard because on any set he is the most powerful person on it. It's weird because you just don't expect it from Morgan Freeman, someone who you respect."
The female production assistant (PA) mentioned at the beginning of this story who worked on "Going In Style" said she was in her early 20s when Freeman, then 78 years old, harassed her. She said the experience led to her decision to leave the movie industry.
"It was constant comments about the way I looked," she said, adding that Freeman often made the comments within earshot of others on the production staff. She said she frequently came home from work in tears.
The woman recalled a time when she went to the set wearing a dress with a t-shirt over it to cover her exposed back, but "Morgan said to me that I shouldn't be wearing the shirt over my dress."
Another female production assistant who witnessed this particular alleged incident told CNN that Freeman's behavior towards the younger female production staff was an unchecked and persistent issue during filming.
Both women said the t-shirt incident took place in front of a group of people and that they heard at least one other woman publicly chastise Freeman for that particular comment. The behavior was discussed among the women he targeted, the female production assistant said.
A third woman who worked on a recent movie of Freeman's recalled an incident at the film's wrap party. "He was looking at my breasts, and I told him, 'My eyes are up here.' Then we went to take a group photo and he pressed himself up against me. It was inappropriate."
CNN spoke to one of the woman's colleagues on the film, who said that as soon as the photo was taken, the woman walked over and told a group of people what Freeman had done to her.
Another production assistant, who worked with Freeman on "The Dark Knight," told CNN that although she was never personally targeted by Freeman, she witnessed some inappropriate comments Freeman made to female members of the crew. She also said that female members of the crew would at times discuss how Freeman had made them feel uncomfortable.
"Morgan did things in a way that an older more established person can get away with because they have that power," she told CNN. "They can't be replaced, but you can be replaced very easily, that's just kind of the dynamic on set. PA's can be replaced, grips can be replaced, electricians can be replaced, but the actors -- once they're in, they're in.
Had it been somebody else on the crew... I would feel comfortable reporting them because I wouldn't feel like my job would be in danger by reporting them, but if you report somebody like Morgan Freeman that the movie would lose a lot of money by replacing them or getting them in trouble, then you're the trouble maker and you'll get fired because you're just a PA."
Freeman's alleged fixation on how women dressed was apparent when he hit the road to promote his films, as was his alleged pattern of looking women up and down while making sexually suggestive comments to them.
As the entertainment producer at Chicago's WGN-TV, Tyra Martin spent hours interviewing Freeman at various press junkets. Over the course of a decade, she said, she sat down with him at least nine times and grew accustomed to his comments about her appearance. But Martin made it clear in an interview with CNN that she was always "in on the joke." WGN produced videos featuring some of Freeman's remarks to Martin, describing it as him flirting with her. But Martin felt that one incident crossed a line.
"When I stood up, I pulled my skirt part of my dress down and he did say, 'Oh, don't pull it down now.'" Martin said. "That gave me pause but I never felt uncomfortable."
It is unclear whether video of that incident exists.
An entertainment reporter who is a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association said Freeman made comments about her skirt and her legs during two different junkets. Much like many of the women in this report and those who declined to go on the record, the reporter said Freeman's fame and power kept her from speaking out.
"I was just trying to do my job and I brushed it off," said the reporter, who did not want to be identified for this story because she's fearful of losing out on interviews with other celebrities.
"You don't want to put him on the spot because one, he's famous and two, it's on camera and three, you just want to do your job."
In a mirror image of his days presiding over Hollywood red carpets, the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was led in handcuffs past a gantlet of photographers on Friday as he appeared in court to face charges that he had raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex.
Mr. Weinstein’s appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court lasted barely 10 minutes, but stood not only as a breakthrough in the investigation into sex-crime claims against him but as a watershed in the larger #MeToo movement. After decades of harnessing his wealth and power to silence women — and after weathering an earlier criminal inquiry into groping allegations — his reign as a film-industry titan suffered a decisive blow in, of all places, the shopworn arraignment courtroom, where he was among the morning cattle call of defendants.
It was 9:25 a.m. when Mr. Weinstein — in a dark blazer, a light-blue sweater and an untucked button-down shirt — was escorted into courtroom AR-1 by Sgt. Keri Thompson and Detective Nicholas DiGaudio, two investigators from the New York Police Department’s Special Victims Division. The unit had been pushing hard for months on Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, to pursue a case against Mr. Weinstein, particularly after Mr. Vance declined to prosecute the groping case of an Italian model, Amber Battilana, three years ago because of what he called a lack of evidence.
As the hearing opened, Mr. Weinstein, still in handcuffs and looking vaguely shellshocked, was led with his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, into the well of the court where he stood in front of Judge Kevin McGrath. The lead prosecutor in the case, Joan Illuzzi, announced the charges against him: first-degree rape and third-degree rape in one case; and first-degree criminal sex act in another.
The criminal sex act count stemmed from an encounter with Lucia Evans, who first told The New Yorker, and then investigators from Mr. Vance’s office, that Mr. Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him during what she expected would be a casting meeting at the Miramax office in TriBeCa in 2004. The victim in the rape case has not been publicly identified, but prosecutors said that that attack occurred on March 18, 2013, at 569 Lexington Avenue, the address for the DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel.
After noting that the charges had emerged after “months of investigation,” Ms. Illuzzi added that the inquiry had shown “that this defendant used his money, power and position to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually.”
Ms. Illuzzi also said that the investigation would continue and she asked Judge McGrath to issue an order of protection against Mr. Weinstein on behalf of one of the women, who was not identified. A grand jury remains empaneled in the case and is still looking into whether Mr. Weinstein abused more women and used his vast financial resources to keep them quiet.
Mr. Weinstein said nothing during the hearing, standing with his back to a roomful of reporters. He was not required to enter a plea because he was arrested on a criminal complaint, rather than an indictment. But after the hearing, Mr. Brafman said his client intended to plead not guilty. By Wednesday, Mr. Weinstein will also have to decide whether he plans to testify in front of the grand jury.
As the hearing neared an end, Mr. Brafman, one of New York City’s top defense lawyers, handed Mr. Weinstein’s passport to Ms. Illuzzi and paid his bail with a $1 million cashier’s check. As part of his bail package, he has agreed to wear a monitoring device and restrict his travel to New York and Connecticut. When the proceeding was over, Mr. Weinstein was allowed to slip out of an employee door at the back of the courthouse, where he climbed into a waiting Toyota.
All told, his passage through the courts took about an hour, a far shorter and much less grueling ordeal than most defendants endure.
Outside the courthouse, Mr. Brafman told a scrum of reporters that he would “move quickly” to dismiss the charges, calling them “constitutionally flawed and factually unsubstantiated.”
“I anticipate that the women who have made these allegations, when subjected to cross-examination — in the event we get that far — will not be believed by 12 people,” Mr. Brafman said. He continued: “Assuming we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case.”
Hinting at a potential line of defense, Mr. Brafman also drew a distinction between bad behavior and criminal conduct. “Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood,” he said. “Bad behavior is not on trial in this case.”
As is the case in many sex crimes prosecutions, whether the charges brought on Friday ultimately stick is likely to hinge on the issue of the complainants’ credibility. It remains unclear how much physical evidence investigators have found to corroborate their stories, and Mr. Brafman in his comment promised “a vigorous cross-examination.”
The day had started early for Mr. Weinstein. Around 7:30 a.m., he walked into the First Precinct station house in Lower Manhattan, flanked by several sex crimes detectives and hounded by another gaggle of reporters and photographers. Toting three large books under his arm, he looked up without saying a word as shutters clicked and onlookers called out, “Harvey!”
He was fingerprinted and formally booked and waited in a holding cell for detectives to finish paperwork. Then, about an hour later, he was led from the station house in TriBeCa and taken to the court at 100 Centre Street, his arms pinned behind him in three sets of handcuffs to accommodate his girth, a law enforcement official said. The books he had been carrying — among them “Elia Kazan: A Biography,” by Richard Schickel, and “Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution,” by Todd S. Purdum — were gone.
The charges against Mr. Weinstein followed a wave of accusations that led women around the world — some of them famous, but many of them not — to come forward with accounts of being sexually harassed and assaulted by powerful men. Those stories spawned the global #MeToo movement, and since then, the ground has shifted beneath men who for years had benefited from a code of silence around their predatory behavior.
Mr. Weinstein himself had reigned for decades as one of Hollywood’s top producers, known as much for his bullying and aggression as for his cinematic triumphs. Over the years, journalists and investigators, chasing leads from a whisper-network of women and a handful of complainants, sought to expose the accusations and hold him accountable, but largely came up empty. Mr. Weinstein’s power was after all enormous; his (and his lawyers’) connections were extensive; and he was often able to buy or coerce the silence of any accusers, at times employing an Israeli security firm called Black Cube, many of whose employees were former intelligence operatives.
But everything shifted in October when The New York Times and The New Yorker published articles containing the accounts of several A-list movie stars and employees of the Weinstein Company, his former namesake production firm. The matching articles shattered Mr. Weinstein’s reputation and eventually spurred criminal inquiries in New York, Los Angeles and London.
Mr. Vance’s prosecutors, for example, conducted dozens of interviews in New York and elsewhere and issued hundreds of subpoenas. A similar but separate federal investigation is also being conducted into Mr. Weinstein’s finances and into the question of whether he violated stalking laws in his dealings with women who say he abused them.
The First Police Precinct station house, where Mr. Weinstein was arrested, was not unfamiliar to him or his accusers. Three years ago, Ms. Battilana, the model, accused Mr. Weinstein of groping her during a meeting in his office, and spoke to detectives at the same station house, on Varick Street.
The next day, with detectives watching and recording, Mr. Weinstein and Ms. Battilana met at the TriBeCa Grand, where Mr. Weinstein acknowledged he had touched her breasts and promised not to do so again. But he was not asked about putting his hand up Ms. Battilana’s skirt as she had alleged. Detectives took Mr. Weinstein to the First Police Precinct for questioning, but as soon as the groping allegation came up, he halted the interview and asked for a lawyer, the police said.
Unlike in the case announced on Friday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office decided that time not to charge him.
D.L. HUGHLEY SAYS "BILL COSBY'S COMEDY WAS CLEAN BUT HIS LIFE WASN'T & HE RAPED WOMEN":
TIME'S UP.
Post Sources: VladTV, Youtube
During an interview in 2017 on VladTV (Youtube), comedian D.L. HUGHLEY made this compelling, shocking statement about Powerful, Super Wealthy, Sex Addict/ Rapist BILL COSBY:
"Bill Cosby's comedy was clean but his life wasn't and raped every one of those women. Bill Cosby tried to stop other Black Comedians from becoming famous that's why he wanted to buy NBC."
Can you say "HYPOCRITE"??
I'm not surprised.
Dr Bill Cosby was telling Impoverished Black Men to "pull their pants up", while he was pulling down the panties of Women outside of his Marriage and Raping those Women.
This same kind of HYPOCRISY can often be found in many large Churches.
Many of the Men in large Churches (especially Black Churches) are living a double life of ADULTERY, FINANCIAL ABUSE, PHYSICAL ABUSE against their Wives and INCEST against their own Daughters, yet their image at Church is Clean and Respectable.
This Hypocrisy lifestyle can largely be found among Black Male Church Leaders who should be demonstrating to Young Men how to live a Clean, Professional life, instead many Black Male Church Leaders are Married Whoremongers, who prey upon low income, Single Women.
Just as Bill Cosby did, those Black Men in large Churches who live a double life of ADULTERY, FINANCIAL ABUSE and PHYSICAL ABUSE against their Wives and INCEST against their own Daughters, while APPEARING to live a Clean life in public, often use Money and Influence to keep their Wives Silent.
When the Wives of these Black Male Church Leaders attempt to Speak Out and EXPOSE these Sexual Predators in Sheep clothing, the Men will tell other Church members that their Wives are "Mentally Unstable" or that their Daughters are "Mentally Unstable".
The Pastors at many of these "Mega Churches" often remain quiet while the Men in their congregation Abuse their Wives and Daughters because the Men are putting MONEY into the Church coffers.
For the record I am not attacking Black Churches nor am I attacking "Mega Churches".
I'm just want to see JUSTICE for hurting Women and Children whose lives have been torn apart by trying to COVER UP Sexual Assault in the Workplace, at Home and sadly enough in the Church.
If Society really wants to know why the lives of so many Young Black Men are messed up, look no further than the neighborhood Black Churches.
Many Young Black Men have Mothers who were PHYSICALLY ABUSED, EMOTIONALLY ABUSED and FINANCIALLY ABUSED by Black Male Church Leaders.
Who were these Black Male Church Leaders? The Fathers or Step-Fathers of those Young Black Men.
Many Young Black Men have Sisters or know other Young Women who were RAPED or Sexually Assaulted by a Black Male Church Leader,who in most cases was their own Father or Step-Father.
When those Young Black Men attempted to Speak Out on behalf of their Mothers and Sisters, they were labeled as "Rebellious" or as "Thugs".
Forgiveness does not eliminate Consequences.
God is the final Judge!
I thank the good Lord Bill Cosby isn't God.
Cosby deserves to be in Jail even at 80 years old because he committed Sexual Assault against Women for decades with Malicious Intent and then called those Women "Mentally Unstable" and "Gold Diggers".
Like most Americans, I spent the 60s, 70s, and part of the 80s in awe of Bill Cosby and his total domination of popular culture. He was the first African American to star in a dramatic television series, I Spy, a show my family in Buffalo, New York, always watched. Cosby cut a striking figure on-screen then. He was funny, smart, and even elegant—all those wonderful things many white Americans didn’t associate with people of color. In fact, as I thought of going public with what follows, a voice in my head kept whispering, “Black men have enough enemies out there already, they certainly don’t need someone like you, an African American with a familiar face and a famous name, fanning the flames.”
Imagine my joy in the mid-80s when an agent called to say Bill Cosby wanted me to audition for a role on the The Cosby Show. Cosby played an obstetrician, and he sometimes used models to portray pregnant women sitting in his office waiting room. It was a small part with one or two speaking lines at most, but I wanted in.
I was in the midst of an ugly custody battle for my only child. I needed a big break badly and appearing on The Cosby Show seemed like an excellent way of getting Hollywood’s attention. I’d appeared in one or two movies already, but my phone wasn’t exactly ringing off the hook with acting jobs.
Cosby’s handlers invited me to a taping of the show so I could get the lay of the land and an idea of what my role required. After the taping I met all the cast and then met with Cosby in his office to talk a bit about the hell I’d been through in my marriage. He appeared concerned and then asked what I wanted from my career going forward. He seemed genuinely interested in guiding me to the next level. I was on cloud nine.
I brought my daughter to the next taping I attended. Afterward, Cosby asked if I could meet him at his home that weekend to read for the part. My ex-husband had primary custody of my daughter at the time, and I usually spent my weekends with her. Cosby suggested I bring her along, which really reeled me in. He was the Jell-O Pudding man; like most kids, my daughter loved him. When my daughter and I visited Cosby’s New York brownstone, his staff served us a delicious brunch. Then he gave us a tour of the exceptional multi-level home.
Looking back, that first invite from Cosby to his home seems like part of a perfectly laid out plan, a way to make me feel secure with him at all times. It worked like a charm. Cosby suggested I come back to his house a few days later to read for the part. I agreed, and one late afternoon the following week I returned. His staff served a light dinner and Bill and I talked more about my plans for the future.
After the meal, we walked upstairs to a huge living area of his home that featured a massive bar. A huge brass espresso contraption took up half the counter. At the time, it seemed rare for someone to have such a machine in his home for personal use.
Cosby said he wanted to see how I handled various scenes, so he suggested that I pretend to be drunk. (When did a pregnant woman ever appear drunk on The Cosby Show? Probably never, but I went with it.)
As I readied myself to be the best drunk I could be, he offered me a cappuccino from the espresso machine. I told him I didn’t drink coffee that late in the afternoon because it made getting to sleep at night more difficult. He wouldn’t let it go. He insisted that his espresso machine was the best model on the market and promised I’d never tasted a cappuccino quite like this one.
It’s nuts, I know, but it felt oddly inappropriate arguing with Bill Cosby so I took a few sips of the coffee just to appease him.
Now let me explain this: I was a top model during the 70s, a period when drugs flowed at parties and photo shoots like bottled water at a health spa. I’d had my fun and experimented with my fair share of mood enhancers. I knew by the second sip of the drink Cosby had given me that I’d been drugged—and drugged good.
[Editor’s Note: Cosby’s attorneys did not respond to Vanity Fair’s requests for comment.]
My head became woozy, my speech became slurred, and the room began to spin nonstop. Cosby motioned for me to come over to him as though we were really about to act out the scene. He put his hands around my waist, and I managed to put my hand on his shoulder in order to steady myself.
As I felt my body go completely limp, my brain switched into automatic-survival mode. That meant making sure Cosby understood that I knew exactly what was happening at that very moment.
“You are a motherfucker aren’t you?”
That’s the exact question I yelled at him as he stood there holding me, expecting me to bend to his will. I rapidly called him several more “motherfuckers.” By the fifth, I could tell that I was really pissing him off. At one point he dropped his hands from my waist and just stood there looking at me like I’d lost my mind.
What happened next is somewhat cloudy for me because the drug was in fuller play by that time. I recall his seething anger at my tirade and then him grabbing me by my left arm hard and yanking all 110 pounds of me down a bunch of stairs as my high heels clicked and clacked on every step. I feared my neck was going to break with the force he was using to pull me down those stairs. It was still late afternoon and the sun hadn’t completely gone down yet. When we reached the front door, he pulled me outside of the brownstone and then, with his hand still tightly clenched around my arm, stood in the middle of the street waving down taxis.
When one stopped, Cosby opened the door, shoved me into it and slammed the door behind me without ever saying a word. I somehow managed to tell the driver my address and before blacking out, I looked at the cabbie and asked, as if he knew: “Did I really just call Bill Cosby ‘a motherfucker’?”
Why that was even a concern of mine after what I’d just been through is still a mystery to me? I think my mind refused to process it.
The next day I woke up in my own bed after falling into a deep sleep that lasted most of the day. I had no memory of how I got into my apartment or into my bed, though most likely my doorman helped me out.
I sat in there still stunned by what happened the night before, confused and devastated by the idea that someone I admired so much had tried to take advantage of me, and used drugs to do so. Had I done something to encourage his actions?
In reality, I knew I’d done nothing to encourage Cosby but my mind kept turning with question after question. It took a few days for the drug to completely wear off and soon I had to get back to work. I headed to California for an acting audition. Not long after arriving, I decided I needed to confront Cosby for my own sanity’s sake. I thought if I just called him, he would come clean and explain why he’d done what he had.
I dialed the private number he’d given me expecting to hear his voice on the other end. But he didn’t answer. His wife did. A little shocked, I quickly identified myself to her in the most respectful way possible and then asked to speak to Bill. Camille politely informed me that it was very late, 11:00 P.M. and that they were both in bed together.
I apologized for the late call and explained that I was in Los Angeles and had forgotten about the three-hour time difference. I added that I would call back tomorrow.
I didn’t call back the next day or any other day after that. At a certain moment it became clear that I would be fighting a losing battle with a powerful man so callous he not only drugged me, but he also gave me the number to the bedroom he shared with his wife. How could I fight someone that boldly arrogant and out of touch? In the end, just like the other women, I had too much to lose to go after Bill Cosby. I had a career that would no doubt take a huge hit if I went public with my story and I certainly couldn’t afford that after my costly divorce and on going court fees.
For a long time I thought it was something that only happened to me, and that I was somehow responsible. So I kept my secret to myself, believing this truth needed to remain in the darkness. But the last four weeks have changed everything, as so many women have shared similar stories, of which the press have belatedly taken heed.
Still I struggled with how to reveal my big secret, and more importantly, what would people think when and if I did? Would they dismiss me as an angry black woman intent on ruining the image of one of the most revered men in the African American community over the last 40 years? Or would they see my open and honest account of being betrayed by one of the country’s most powerful, influential, and beloved entertainers?
As I wrestled with the idea of telling my story of the day Bill Cosby drugged me with the intention of doing God knows what, the faces of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and countless other brown and black men took residence in my mind.
As if I needed to be reminded. The current plight of the black male was behind my silence when Barbara Bowman came out to tell the horrific details of being drugged and raped by Cosby to the Washington Post in November. And I watched in horror as my longtime friend and fellow model Janice Dickinson was raked over the coals for telling her account of rape at Cosby’s hands. Over the years I’ve met other women who also claim to have been violated by Cosby. Many are still afraid to speak up. I couldn’t sit back and watch the other women be vilified and shamed for something I knew was true.
When I sat down to write my memoir in 2013, I pondered if I should include my Cosby experience. I didn't want to get involved in a he-said/she-said situation. Now that other women have come forward with their nightmare stories, I join them.
Finally, I reached the conclusion that the current attack on African American men has absolutely nothing to do at all with Bill Cosby. He brought this on himself when he decided he had the right to have his way with who knows how many women over the last four decades. If anything, Cosby is distinguished from the majority of black men in this country because he could depend on the powers that be for support and protection.
I had to use my voice as a sister, mother, and grandmother, and as a woman who knows that, according to the C.D.C., nearly one in five women has been sexually assaulted at some time in her life, and that women of color face an even higher attack rate.
In part because of what happened to me nearly 30 years ago, I have agreed to serve on the board of the Barbara Sinatra Center for Abused Children. The experience has been as humbling as it has been rewarding. Many of the young children I work with have been sexually abused and I watch in awe of their bravery as they work to recover and feel better.
How could I be any less brave?
(Beverly Johnson was a top model during the 70s and 80s and was the first African American woman to appear on the cover of American Vogue in 1974.)
Even in defeat, disgrace and public humiliation, they kept on coming after the women.
In an extraordinary post-trial interview on Friday with “Good Morning America” chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, Cosby representatives Andrew Wyatt and Ebonee Benson called one juror a racist and suggested that one Cosby accuser and a friend who say they were drugged and assaulted had initially gone to visit the comedian because “they like big, black men.”
Stephanopoulos seemed to wince, and asked her, “Do you really want to go there?”
She did.
Benson went on to compare Cosby’s conviction on three counts of felony sexual assault on Thursday to the fate of Emmett Till, the 14-year old Mississippi child brutalized and murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman.
“This became a public lynching,” Wyatt said of the trial. “The South came to the East.”
A number of Cosby’s dozens of accusers are African-Americans, as are Benson and Wyatt.
Employing a vicious defense strategy that sought to exploit race, gender, age and social activism, Cosby’s defense team went low early and kept on going -- launching stunning, mostly unfounded broadsides against the judge, the prosecutor, the witnesses and the jurors -– and openly mocked the widely accepted scholarship of a renowned expert on sexual assault.
Mocking Science
In a powerful, tactical move, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, prosecutors Kevin Steele, Kristen Feden and Stewart Ryan chose as their first witness in the retrial Dr. Barbara Ziv -- a sexual assault expert who testified that significant statistical evidence has shown that most sexual assault victims respond differently to attacks than victims of other crimes.
Anticipating withering defense cross-examinations from celebrity defense attorney Tom Mesereau and co-counsel Kathleen Bliss, the move aimed to give some measure of protection to the succession of six women who would follow, each testifying that Cosby drugged and sexually violated them.
District Attorney Steele knew jurors needed to first understand the degree of lasting trauma sexual violence can inflict before listening to the graphic stories they were about to hear, a colleague told ABC News.
Ziv testified that “the vast majority of victims of sexual assault do not report to authorities,” and that sexual assault reporting can be delayed “from days to weeks to months to years.”
She explained how common counter-intuitive behavior is in victims of sexual violence, and how they rarely act the way you would think they would.
“Most people don’t fight back, don’t say anything, and don’t, you know, immediately, when it’s over, don’t jump up and leave,” Ziv said. “They are in a state of shock, that’s how they describe it.
“The most common scenario is that when someone is being sexually assaulted, they’re sort of frozen, they don’t know what’s happening ... but they can take their time before they end the situation," she added. "That’s usually the pattern in the majority of sexual assaults.”
During closing arguments, Bliss characterized Ziv’s testimony as nonsense.
“We are not snowflakes,” the former federal prosecutor told jurors in her deep Oklahoma drawl. “We are not delicate flowers, and so this rape myth that someone like Dr. Ziv would ask you to buy into –- where if she says X, it’s rape; if she says Y, it’s rape; if she says Z, it’s rape.
"Whatever she says, don’t worry about the details,” Bliss continued sarcastically. “Don’t corroborate her. Don’t check her out.”
Shaming women
In some ways, the defense strategy was as simple as it was anachronistic: destroy the accuser’s credibility, shame her supporting witnesses and ridicule emerging science on the truly caustic effects of sexual assault on both the bodies and the psyches of victims.
Mesereau called Andrea Constand -- whose sexual assault case led to Cosby's conviction -- a “con artist” and a “pathological liar” so wily and deceptive that “you would need pliers to pull the truth from this woman.”
He accused her of “destroying the physical evidence” that could have proved Cosby innocent -- by not coming forward for a year after the alleged attack.
An email she cut, pasted and forwarded in college to one person became a “pyramid scheme.” Allegations of decades-old use of hallucinogens became an “addict[ion] to magic mushrooms.”
Constand acknowledged under cross-examination that she had been in Cosby’s hotel room at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut late one night after he invited her to the resort to see him perform.
“Did you think it appropriate that you be in a married man’s room in a hotel in Connecticut at that time of night?” Mesereau pressed.
Constand calmly replied that she was summoned to the room by the comedian to get some “baked goods that Mr. Cosby wanted to give me.”
She said she left the room within 10 minutes.
At another point, Mesereau suggested that Constand had violated the terms of her $3.38 million dollar settlement with Cosby by testifying, when a close reading of the language in subsequent questioning by Feden revealed that the attorney had left out a key element of the agreement -- and that Constand hadn’t violated the terms at all.
The five additional accusers came under equally lethal scrutiny.
In one of the most remarkable moments in the trial, Bliss told jurors that former supermodel and witness Janice Dickinson was a “failed starlet” and an “aged-out model” who sounded “like she had slept with every single man on the planet.”
“Is Ms. Dickinson really the moral beacon that the women’s movement wants?” she wondered aloud.
A sweet-voiced Midwestern grandmother named Heidi Thomas was painted as desperate for attention after a bid in her early-20s to become an entertainer.
Thomas finally got her wish, Bliss told jurors sarcastically, after getting to testify before the national press in a high-profile trial.
“She’s now living the dream, ladies and gentlemen," Bliss mocked.
Thomas had earlier testified to being summoned at the age of 24 to an empty home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, for acting coaching, only to be drugged by Cosby and wake up in groggy horror and confusion. He forced himself onto her, she testified.
When accuser Janice Baker-Kinney denied repeatedly under cross-examination to conspiring with Constand against the star during a chance meeting at a women’s march last year, Mesereau openly mocked her.
“Are you rolling your eyes at me?” she demanded of the attorney, who without a moment’s hesitation shot back “yes,” drawing gasps from the gallery.
Under cross-examination, Chelan Lasha sobbed as she was called a liar who was convicted a decade earlier of making a false statement to police in an unrelated case.
Bliss portrayed all of them as having made up stories and come forward for “money, press conferences, TV show, salacious coverage, ratings.”
She paused for effect and concluded dismissively, “Sex sells.”
Taking on the judge
The circle-the-wagons defense strategy sought to impugn the motivations of all comers.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill denied a pre-trial motion by the prosecution to recuse himself from the case because his wife counsels college sexual assault victims and once may have made a $100 donation to a campus group. The group later made a donation to another campus group that had recently announced plans to protest Cosby outside of court.
The protest never materialized, and neither did the recusal.
In issuing his ruling, O’Neill accused the defense of trying to “trivialize” his wife’s work, and -- in a voice cracking with emotion -- he ultimately declared that “I am my own individual in making decisions here, and my wife’s personal beliefs and professional pursuits and what she does for a living are just of no consequence.”
After appearing to choke up, O’Neill apologized to the court “if emotions become a part of [this]."
“But it’s a difficult thing if the parties choose to bring the families into it," he added.
Playing the race card
During jury selection, Bliss claimed a peremptory strike of an African American woman demonstrated racial discrimination, even though two of the eight jurors by then impaneled were also black.
After a break, Bliss returned to court to claim to the judge that a member of her team had just overheard a Cosby prosecutor making a “repulsive” racially discriminatory remark.
An exasperated Steele called the claim “ludicrous” as one of his assistant district attorneys stormed out of court. The issue was never raised in open court again, and representatives for the prosecution, the defense and court administrators all declined to comment at the time.
On Friday morning, Wyatt was still litigating a failed pre-trial bid to have a different juror thrown out for, again, being overheard making a racist comment.
The actual remarks, if any, were never made public by the court, and Judge O’Neill rejected the defense motion bid to strike that juror from the pool.
But by then it was too late, Benson told Stephanopoulos on Friday.
“The bias was already there,” she said.
Asked whether the scores of women who have accused Cosby in recent years of sexual violence could really all be lying, Benson was ready with her own questions.
“Since when are all people honest?" she asked. "Since when are all women honest?”
In the wake of the Cosby verdict, former Ebony editor-in-chief Kierna Mayo reflects on her “shattered glass” Cosby Show cover and how it highlighted a great divide.
Wednesday, when the news broke, my stomach reacted first. I was home writing when the CNN ticker flashed:
"COSBY FOUND GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS."
The rush of emotions that followed was confusing, not fully placeable if you will. I texted a few friends (COSBY!!!!) and then I sunk back into my sofa, heart racing, belly in knots. What the hell is wrong with you? began the internal talk. I just wanted to understand the sensation. I needed to feel something less indecipherable. My nerves were a wrap; I reached for the vape.
Two years ago, after the soul-stirring funeral of a friend’s beloved mother, a glamorous, gorgeous, silver-haired black woman of a certain age approached me in a parking lot filled with hundreds of mourners. She stopped right in my face and grabbed my hand.
“I wanted to send you roses,” she said.
Initially, I had no response. I had no idea who she was, and no idea what she meant. I was frozen; struck partly by her unique beauty, but mostly by her odd comment and sheer intensity. Lady, I’m emotionally spent, I didn’t quite get out.
“Thank you so much. For that cover. For supporting me. I was one of his victims.”
One. Of. His. Victims. All of a sudden it clicked. She was talking about Bill Cosby. The cover she was referring to was the November 2015 issue of Ebony magazine. I was its editor-in-chief at the time. After a raucous debate about what image should cover our “family” issue, a staff member suggested The Cosby Show. The sexual assault accusations against Cosby had been pouring in by the day. First five women, then 12, then 30 and so forth.
As journalists, we were steeped in discussion about it for months; the entire black community had been. The problem was that there was a deep divide: those who were inclined to believe the women and wholly rejected Cosby’s social status as a reason to think he was incapable of the crime, and those who believed that white women, with the help of some black women, acted as agents of “the white man” and were all conspiring against an otherwise standup family dude, also known as Dr. Cliff Huxtable.
The magazine cover, featuring a classic shot of the original Cosby Show cast, was dropped with a press release, and before the issue hit stands I was being booked on cable news shows. The sweet image of that darling black T.V. family under an overlay of shattered glass (the crack began over Cosby’s face) struck a chord. As editors, we were attempting to capture a cultural moment: the Cosby Show mattered to America, to black America, but the black “respectability politics” that it trumpeted, for better or for worse, was being metaphorically challenged by the crimes of its star. Something about this perfect black family image was cracked, something was indeed shattered, and Ebony didn’t do it. But that didn’t stop the vitriol from coming.
“John Johnson (Ebony founder) would be turning in his grave,” read one comment from a reader. For some reason, that one stayed with me. Would he be? He was friends with Cosby, of course.
I admitted to CNN’s Brooke Baldwin that I hadn’t slept in two days in anticipation of the release. I knew that the pain, frustration and anger we held over the accusations against Cosby were deep and real. Wendy Williams asked me on camera if I felt physically intimidated by some of the backlash I was receiving. I responded half-jokingly by looking over both shoulders, and then explaining that it was exactly what I did walking out of my house to come to her studio.
After nearly a year of publically talking about the accusations and intently listening to whole swaths of black America debate the facts—and the feels—on that day in the parking lot, I was standing in front of a black woman who had actually been raped by Bill Cosby. Both of us already a mess from the service, we simply cried and held each other the way we both clearly needed. For about an hour, I listened to her story. Her young model-actress life. How they met. The what, when and where. All I could hear though, was the weight of her irreconcilable sense of guilt.
“I still feel so guilty,” she said, weeping. “I just feel like I really, honestly let black people down.”
She never wanted to tell. Not because it didn’t happen, but because “we need unity with our men.” She was sacrificing the self for the whole.
“Don’t say that! We are completely here for you,” I heard myself half-way lie. But is black America here for the victims of black men?
I re-posted that old Ebony cover on IG yesterday. And I’ve since confirmed that what I felt in the moment of his conviction was an emotional lack of clarity that actually made sense. Because there are no absolute winners here.
For Cosby’s victims, there may be some resolution, for his family—his stoic wife Camille in particular—there must be devastation especially now that Cosby is 80 and legally blind, and for his people, confusion. Looking at my Instagram, there is still palpable heartbreak and for some, frightening denial. Why our Dr. Huxtable? Why???
A few comments on my post right now:
“Fuck that metoo movement. I used to support it but its taking down successful black men and I’m not with it.
“This show will never be broken. It is one of the few things that was whole in Black history.”
“I don’t believe not one of these women.”
“We needed to see his shattered image. He is flawed! He is clearly capable of being twisted in spite of the contributions he’s given to our culture.”
“This cover is literally one of the bravest most amazing things done in media in the past few years.”
We were split and shattered by Bill Cosby. And I promise a single magazine cover didn’t create the maelstrom. After this verdict, the courage to face the truth about one black man and to really be “completely there” for his victims and for the countless other women who are sexually assaulted every year is our clear option.
Which way, black America? My profound hope is that with the Cosby conviction we have turned a page as a community. There was, sure enough, a time when we confused black genius, and the illusion of what is “respectable” with lived black decency, black integrity and black life.
Perhaps after yesterday, we’ll crack all the illusions that cover up great lies.
Andrea Constand, the woman whose sexual assault complaint against the television icon Bill Cosby led to his conviction, broke her long public silence with a short Twitter message Friday thanking the local community.
“A very profound and heartfelt thank you to the Commonwealth of PA, Montgomery County, for their service and sacrifices,” she wrote, seemingly addressing the district attorney’s office and the jury that on Thursday convicted Mr. Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting Ms. Constand.
“Congratulations,” she added. “Truth prevails.”
Following a high-profile trial like Mr. Cosby’s, the vindicated party traditionally makes the media rounds, appearing to discuss the case on the “Today” show or “Good Morning America.” Ms. Constand has not yet done so.
Outside the courtroom, where Ms. Constand testified that Mr. Cosby had drugged and molested her at his home in 2004, she has been reluctant to speak about the case. That may be due, in part, to the nondisclosure agreement she signed as part of her $3.38 million settlement she reached with Mr. Cosby in 2006.
Last year, a judge ruled that Mr. Cosby could pursue a lawsuit against Ms. Constand based on two Twitter posts she wrote in 2014.
(“I won’t go away, there is a lot more I will say,” she wrote in one.) But as the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse has gained influence, women who have agreed to settlements with powerful men — including Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly and Donald J. Trump — have broken their nondisclosure agreements, arguing that speaking out was more important.
Ms. Constand’s lawyer, Dolores Troiani, said by phone on Friday that she and her client were evaluating their options and the enforceability of the contract with Mr. Cosby.
“Obviously everyone in the world has sent me an email or text, but we’re just stepping back and seeing where we’re going to go,” Ms. Troiani said, referring to the extensive media requests for interviews with Ms. Constand. “I think we’re taking a breather, for one.”
At a news conference after the verdict on Thursday, Ms. Constand stood by, letting the Montgomery County district attorney, Kevin Steele, and Kristen Gibbons Feden, the special prosecutor on the case, speak about its importance.
Mr. Steele commended Ms. Constand for fighting through two trials. “She has been a major factor in a movement that has gone in the right direction, finally,” he said.
Bill Cosby has been convicted of drugging and molesting a woman in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
A jury outside Philadelphia convicted the "Cosby Show" star of three counts of aggravated indecent assault on Thursday. The guilty verdict came less than a year after another jury deadlocked on the charges.
Cosby was charged with violating Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. His lawyer called Constand a "con artist" who leveled false accusations against Cosby so she could sue him.
Cosby could get up to 10 years in prison on each of the counts.
Dozens of women have come forward in recent years to say he drugged and assaulted them. Five of the other accusers testified against him at the retrial.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission. Constand has done so.
___
1:25 p.m.
The jury is heading back to the courtroom and Bill Cosby's defense team is saying there's a verdict in his sexual assault retrial.
The panel of seven men and five women have been deliberating about 14 hours.
The 80-year-old comedian is accused of drugging and violating a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
He's charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault. A conviction could put him in prison for up to 10 years on each count.
Prosecutors used Cosby's past admissions about drugs and sex as well as the testimony of five other women to help bolster accuser Andrea Constand's allegations. Cosby's lawyers argued Constand leveled false accusations against Cosby so she could sue him and extract a huge civil settlement.
It's the only criminal case to arise from allegations from more than 60 women.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission. Constand has done so.
___
10:50 a.m.
The judge in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial says the six alternate jurors will get an hour with the courthouse comfort dog before being sent back to their hotel.
Judge Steven O'Neill said Thursday he planned to meet with the alternates to "let them know they're still important." After O'Neill mentioned the dog, Cosby stood up at the defense table and made a comical, barking-like motion with his mouth.
The alternate jurors are being kept away from the main panel of seven men and five women deliberating Cosby's fate.
The jury spent an hour listening to a court stenographer read back the testimony of defense witness Marguerite Jackson before they resumed talks.
Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting a woman in 2004. He says the woman consented.
___
10:15 a.m.
Jurors at Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial are having the testimony of the star defense witness read back to them.
The jury is back for Day 2 of deliberations. The panel of seven men and five women started its day Thursday by reviewing the testimony of Marguerite Jackson, who says Cosby's chief accuser spoke of framing a celebrity for the money.
Jackson is an academic adviser at Temple University, where Constand worked as a women's basketball administrator. Jackson testified that Constand told her she could fabricate sexual assault allegations and "get that money" from a lawsuit. Jackson's testimony bolstered Cosby's efforts to show Constand made up the allegations against him to extort a big civil settlement.
Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting Constand in 2004. He says it was consensual.
The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
___
8:45 a.m.
Bill Cosby has arrived at a suburban Philadelphia courthouse where jurors are deliberating in the comedian's sexual assault retrial.
The 80-year-old Cosby arrived on Thursday and said "good morning" twice as he entered the courthouse.
The jury of seven men and five women will start their second day of weighing charges by revisiting the testimony of a star defense witness who cast doubt on accuser Andrea Constand's credibility.
Marguerite Jackson's testimony that Constand once spoke of framing a prominent person to score a big payday will be read back to the jury when court resumes.
The jurors completed a marathon, 10-hour session on Wednesday that failed to produce a verdict.
___
12:25 a.m.
Jurors in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial are kicking off a second day of deliberations by revisiting the testimony of a star defense witness who cast doubt on accuser Andrea Constand's credibility.
Marguerite Jackson's testimony that Constand once spoke of framing a prominent person to score a big payday will be read back to the jury when court resumes outside Philadelphia on Thursday.
A marathon, 10-hour first day of deliberations failed to yield a verdict in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
The exhausted panel called it a night after rehearing excerpts from Cosby's old deposition testimony, including his admission he gave quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with in the 1970s.
The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
William "Bill" Cosby has been officially charged with Sexual Assault crimes.
His bail is set at $1 Million dollars.
This is a sad day for Bill Cosby and his family.
But what's even more sad is how for years Bill Cosby bashed BLACK Men,
calling them IRRESPONSIBLE Losers, as he repeatedly spoke Gloom &
Doom over the lives of BLACK Men.
Today Bill Cosby himself faces a future of Gloom & Doom.
Let this be a lesson to all BLACK Celebrities and BLACK Leaders.
When GOD blesses you (BLACK People),
he does not bless you so you can go out on the world stage and Bash your own race.
Instead when GOD blesses you (BLACK People) it is so you can Educate
and provide OPPORTUNITIES to help uplift other BLACK People.
Bill Cosby — America’s Dad — accused of rape by dozens of women, was
finally hit with a criminal charge Wednesday before getting released on
$1 million bail.
Just weeks before the statute of limitations was
set to expire, prosecutors charged Cosby with sexually assaulting a
Temple University employee at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.
“The evidence is strong,” said Montgomery County Prosecutor Kevin
Steele, announcing a single count of aggravated indecent assault against
the creepy comedian.
Steele described the defenseless victim, tossing a fresh layer of taint on Cosby’s once-wholesome image.
“Frozen, paralyzed, unable to move,” he said. “A person in that state is unable to consent.”
Prosecutors initially declined in 2005 to file charges in the case, citing a lack of evidence.
Accuser Andrea Constand, who has spoken publicly about the encounter
with the perverted funnyman, then filed a civil suit against Cosby and
settled out of court the following year.
In a deposition in that
case, Cosby said under oath that he gave Constand halved pills that he
described as “three friends to make (her) relax,” according to the
affidavit.
Among the last words she recalled hearing:
“Down them. Put ’em down. Put them in your mouth.”
He also acknowledged under oath that he obtained seven prescriptions in
his own name for Quaaludes for the purpose of having sex with women.
A judge unsealed those depositions filed in Philadelphia federal court
earlier this year, prompting Montgomery County prosecutors to reopen
their criminal case.
“Reopening this case was not a question. Rather, reopening this was our duty,” Steele said.
The new case marks the first criminal prosecution of the diminishing
star and sets the stage for what could be a blockbuster trial involving
some of the roughly 60 other accusers who say they were sexually
assaulted by Cosby.
The 78-year-old faces up to a decade behind
bars if convicted. He went from the courthouse, about 10 miles north of
Philadelphia, to a local police station and was freed on bail — all
within 30 minutes.
“Make no mistake, we intend to mount a
vigorous defense against this unjustified charge and we expect that Mr.
Cosby will be exonerated,” Cosby’s attorneys said in a statement.
An affidavit made public Wednesday detailed the revolting encounter
with Constand in January 2004, which echoed other alleged assaults by
Cosby dating as far back as 1965.
Cosby made two unwanted sexual advances on Constand in the months leading up to the assault, papers allege.
Constand, now 42, returned to his home around 8:45 p.m. thinking they
were going to discuss her career. Instead, Cosby offered her pills and
wine, according to the court papers.
“These will make you feel good. The blue things will take the edge off,” Cosby said, according to documents.
About 30 minutes later Constand was helpless as Cosby positioned
himself behind her as she faded “in and out” of consciousness on a
couch, according to documents.
Constand had blurred vision and
difficulty speaking as Cosby fondled her breasts, put his hand down her
pants and penetrated her with his fingers, the affidavit states.
Cosby allegedly took Constand’s right hand and placed it on his privates.
Constand passed out and woke up around 4 a.m. the next day with her bra
undone and moved above her breasts, according to the affidavit.
Cosby, dressed in a robe, gave her a muffin, walked to the front door,
opened it and merely said, “All right,” the paperwork states.
She recalled leaving the residence without saying anything.
After the alleged assault, Constand fled to Canada to be near family
and told her mom what happened.
The mom confronted Cosby over the
telephone, according to documents.
Cosby admitted the encounter
during their conversation, said he gave Constand some type of
“prescription” medication and invited the women on an all-expenses-paid
trip to Florida, the affidavit states.
Cosby gave an interview to
Cheltenham Township police in January 2005 and claimed the sexual
encounter was consensual, according to the affidavit.
“When
directly asked if he ever had sexual intercourse with the victim, Cosby
gave (police) the unusual answer, ‘never asleep or awake,’” the
affidavit claims.
Constand will cooperate with prosecutors in the new case, Steele said.
Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents 29 women who say Cosby also
doped and groped them, said her clients are thrilled at the latest
development in his long downfall.
“Seeing him criminally charged and having to face a trial is the best Christmas present they have ever received,” Allred said.
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