Rape allegations mount against Bill Cosby #1

[IzzyBlanche]

Empirical evidence does not support the widespread belief that women are extremely unlikely to make false accusations of male sexual misconduct. Rather the research on accusations of rape, sexual harassment, incest, and child sexual abuse indicates that false accusations have become a serious problem.

http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume6/j6_2_4.htm

One example, from this one article:

Eleven women from the Miss Black America Pageant, after claiming that Mike Tyson had touched them on their rears, filed a $607 million lawsuit against him. Several of the contestants later admitted they had lied in the hope of getting publicity and cashing in on the award money which would have given them around $20 million each (Farrell, 1993, p.328).

--- The ones who get away with it -- well, they get away with it. We can see the crime most clearly when it fails.

BBM. Right. This one source vs. how many worldwide law enforcement and victims' advocate entities who say otherwise?

Name me one, just one, mainstream law enforcement entity who agrees that false accusations have become a serious problem.

As for the contestants named, if the story is true, which is a big if in my mind considering the source, did any of them actually receive payment?

If they did, they must have been horrible at math because $607 million divided by 11 = $55 million each, not $20 million. So where did that other $35 million go?

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Thing is, celebrities who are innocent can suffer an almost complete severance from their former good reputation, and massive loss of contracts and other aspects of their livelihoods, *even when 100% vindicated* by a court, or an admission of lying by their accuser. This is highly visible in the Operation Yewtree cases where men have been found innocent of all charges, but still suffer from the negative publicity.

I can see why some might find it better all round to make a payout so the case goes away quickly and quietly, innocent or not.

I am NOT some great defender of rapists. This isn't what I am. I just don't like seeing men be victimised, any more than I enjoy seeing women be so.

eta: Just to add, re "it only takes one" -- for sure, it's harder to doubt an accuser when the accused is not spotless. But false accusations are a crime, too. And they affect the innocent as well the guilty.

BBM for focus. I don't know what Operation Yewtree is, but as a news junkie I can't think of one celebrity who fits this description. Name one. Just one.

 

[Ausgirl]

If you take the time to Google "Yewtree case dismissed" or "Yewtree charges dropped" or "Yewtree acquitted" I am sure you'll find a few examples for yourself.

 

[Donjeta]

JMO but I don't think there's any point worrying that any of these women are likely to make loads of money out of Bill Cosby. Maybe a few interviews. But some of them say they're not even asking for any money from Bill Cosby, they just want the truth out there, and as for Bill Cosby paying anyone to salvage his pristine reputation, that train has already left the station. Why would he pay any of them not to repeat their accusations when their accusations are already everywhere on the internet? It would hardly be of any use unless he could pay them enough to retract their stories and say they made it all up and he's a great guy really.

If there are still some women out there who have a case with enough evidence where he could actually be prosecuted and convicted, I could see him paying them off... but that wouldn't be likely to be a false claim, would it?

 

[Ausgirl]

I truly hope that, if he is indeed a rapist, he'll be charged and tried in a criminal court, and if proven guilty, will do an appropriate prison sentence. I hope the same happens to every rapist. I actually wish repeat offenders were tarred, feathered and thrown off the nearest cliff.

What I really wish for is justice for women -and- men. False accusations against celebrities do happen. It's happened quite a lot. And I believe false accusations do massive damage not just to the victims of the accusation, but to genuine rape victims. I think these cases need to be scrutinised closely. That doesn't mean I think ALL accusations against famous people, even the apparently squeaky clean ones, are false -- far from it. I just think that as celebrities do attract false claims, then any claims made ought not be always and by default , and especially without a guilty verdict, assumed to be true.

 

[Donjeta]

This would be quite an epidemic of false accusations.

JMO but the more people say he did things he shouldn't have the less likely I consider it that they're all making it up.

 

[Ausgirl]

I likely would have agreed with you, Donjeta, prior to the Yewtree fiasco, which has seen multiple people making multiple claims against celebrities, and in some cases the whole lot of them have been thrown out. Jimmy Tarbuck, for one example - where the accusers should have done their homework.

Tarbuck, said he is relieved that his name has been cleared, but disturbed that those who pointed the finger at him remain anonymous while he was held in a blaze of publicity.

‘You do worry that even though this was baseless, people are looking at you and wondering if there is no smoke without fire,’ he added.

Tarbuck said a group of women ‘jumped on the bandwagon’ after his arrest became public last year.

‘They claimed I had made inappropriate sexual advances during Top of the Pops in 1963, he said.

‘Not only have I never met these women, I have never appeared on Top of the Pops – which in any event didn’t start until 1964.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...e-say-not-face-sex-charges.html#ixzz3JyEG2icL

He was charged with 32 offenses. Sadly, 'epidemics' do happen, where the accusations are not true.

 

[Donjeta]

Even if true, it's pretty easy for people to confuse some details when talking from memory about something that happened 30-50 years ago.

I expect Cosby's got his army of lawyers and minions looking into the stories and searching for details that conflict with their documents.

As for Jimmy Tarbuck, he tripped up in an illogical statement too.

'I'm not angry with the police. I think our police have a very hard job to do. I'm angry that the accusers are anonymous. I have no idea who made the allegations.

‘Not only have I never met these women, I have never appeared on Top of the Pops – which in any event didn’t start until 1964.

If he doesn't know who they are, how does he know he never met them?



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...e-say-not-face-sex-charges.html#ixzz3JyNqhweX
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[Tricia]

Please everyone, lets not start personally attacking each other OK?

Thank you,
Tricia

 

[Ausgirl]

I'm not here to argue anyway. I just think these things need to be said. Now I've said 'em, I'll be moving right along.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

EXCLUSIVE: Bill Cosby accused of sexually abusing another ex-model, Jewel Allison, in ‘80s

Jewel Allison tells the Daily News the beloved comedian invited her to dinner at his home, where he poured her a possibly drugged glass of wine and forced her to fondle him before putting her — sick and vomiting — in a cab. Her allegations come as an insider says Bill Cosby paid off several women in the 1980s and ‘90s.

“We may be looking at America’s greatest serial rapist that ever got away with this for the longest amount of time,” Allison told the Daily News last week. “He got away with it because he was hiding behind the image of Cliff Huxtable.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...-assaulted-ex-model-alleges-article-1.2021245

 

[Ausgirl]

BBM for focus.

You are surely unique. I have never in my life seen a rape survivor so concerned about men being victimized by false accusations of rape.

I actually took this as being somewhat nasty, but I'll respond to as if I'm wrong about that. Sorry, if I am.

I had a horrible time as a kid, and some of that included rape. Every time I see a man being falsely accused, I feel it just adds fuel to the plight of genuine victims. Each one makes it that little bit harder for real rape victims to be heard. The things that happened to me did not leave me bitter toward *all* men, and I have utmost compassion for those whose lives are ruined by false accusations. It's as much a life-shattering violation as physical assault in many ways.

They do happen a lot around celebrities. Is why I feel the need to say what I've said.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

From my above link:

Allison said she was introduced to Cosby by her agent, Sue Charney. Charney is credited with discovering supermodel Janice Dickinson, who also claims that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her.

 

[Donjeta]

I actually took this as being somewhat nasty, but I'll respond to as if I'm wrong about that. Sorry, if I am.

I had a horrible time as a kid, and some of that included rape. Every time I see a man being falsely accused, I feel it just adds fuel to the plight of genuine victims. Each one makes it that little bit harder for real rape victims to be heard. The things that happened to me did not leave me bitter toward *all* men, and I have utmost compassion for those whose lives are ruined by false accusations. It's as much a life-shattering violation as physical assault in many ways.

They do happen a lot around celebrities. Is why I feel the need to say what I've said.

True, it is devastating to be falsely accused, but it is equally devastating to be falsely accused of lying and making things up if it really happened. Each time that happens it also makes it more difficult for any other real victims to be heard. It's a tough line to tread.

So far I am finding the women more credible than Bill Cosby whose response amounts to, "don't ask or else" but that's just MOO. It seems a lot of his credibility hangs upon the world equating him as the nice dependable family man Cliff Huxtable, but Cliff is a fictional character. Even his house-tidy biographer who conveniently omitted the sexual assault allegations appears to have acknowledged that Cosby has lived a womanising and intoxicated double life which was pretty far from the wholesome Huxtable family and we heard from the fixer too. (Disclaimer: I haven't read the biography, just some reviews.) Womanizing doesn't make anyone a rapist but it undermines the defense, "oh didn't you watch the Cosby Show, surely the American Dad couldn't have..." And there seems to be a controlling bully persona emerging from the various accounts of journalists and others quoted in this thread... Again, being a bully doesn't make you a serial rapist but to me it is easier to reconcile with the idea than another kind of personality. If even his encounters with the journalists are controlling and threatening, it's not such a long jump to imagine sexual encounters where control and threats play a role.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

TMZ:

Bill Cosby Accuser Wrangling Women for Class Action Lawsuit

One of Bill Cosby's alleged victims not only plans to sue him ... she's trying to get all of his accusers in a single lawsuit to convince a jury ... all these woman just can't be lying.

Louisa Moritz -- who claims Cosby stuck his penis in her mouth in her dressing room before a "Tonight Show" appearance in 1971 -- is interviewing L.A. area lawyers to file a class action lawsuit ... and she wants minimum 9 other women to join her.

Moritz tells us she's already reaching out to the other alleged victims.

http://www.tmz.com/2014/11/24/bill-cosby-accuser-class-action-lawsuit-rape-louisa-moritz/

 

[Donjeta]

It could be good... everyone would get their day in court and there would be more evidence and documents on both sides.

But I think it will give more fuel to the claims that dismiss the women as golddiggers.

 

[Tawny]

I would still be interested in the apparently numerous cases of false accusations against celebrities that ruined a celebrity's pristine reputation.

 

[Tawny]

I would also like to point out that anytime a woman recants her statements and pulls her accusation, it's assumed/stated by others that the reason is because she is lying. However, as seen in thousands of cases, victims are bullied, harassed, and threatened when they come forward. So is it such a reach to come to the conclusion that they decided in the end to recant their accusation rather than deal with the harassment and torment from their family, friends, the public?

I'm sorry if I have more sympathy toward a woman coming forward with an accusation, because the decision to report a rape in itself is a very VERY hard decision to make.

 

[Donjeta]

As sitcom king Bill Cosby faces mounting accusations of rape: Was it fears of seeming racist that protected 'America's Dad' for so long?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...otected-America-s-Dad-long.html#ixzz3JzKd0DHX
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A new authorised biography didn’t refer to the allegations once, and nor did its review in the liberal New York Times, which praised it as ‘wonderfully thorough’.

The same glaring omission was repeated in Cosby’s recent TV interviews to mark the upcoming 30th anniversary of The Cosby Show. Chatshow host Stephen Colbert instead gushed: ‘I’m going to say something controversial. I think you’re great.’

Even when, a few years ago, Cosby was promoting a campaign for better behaviour in the black community, interviewers including Oprah Winfrey didn’t deign to mention the subject.

In recent days, several U.S. journalists admitted their attempts to publicise the allegations were spiked by editors who were, as one put it, ‘horrified at the prospect of taking down’ a ‘beloved figure and civil rights pioneer’.

Some have suggested that fear of being labelled racist may have protected him. ‘I recognise Bill Cosby as a comedic genius, and black people — with good reason — don’t throw away our geniuses,’ said black academic Brittney Cooper. ‘Far too often, racism becomes an excuse for us not to confront sexism.’

 

[crimesnooper]

Congrats on having compassion and wisdom after such a trumatic event(events) in your life. Bravo!