The cases of the two Bills’ sex exploits
SO, America’s most famous dad, Bill Cosby, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman and is likely to die in jail.
By the extremist of ironies, the guilty verdict was handed down on the 40th anniversary of a rape charge filed against another Bill.
In fact, an even more famous Bill - one with the surname Clinton.
Bill the Cosby is waiting for the cell door to slam shut for good. Bill the Clinton is very much at large.
I have a personal interest in the Cosby case as in 2015 I was phoned by a friend called Joanne in Chicago saying she represented a former Playboy Bunny who was one of the first women to claim the comedian had drugged and raped her.
Her name was Patti Jo (PJ) Masten, and she wanted me to do a book on her ordeal. As it had allegedly happened more than 10 years previously, she was unable to bring charges against Cosby. A book would be her one shot at justice.
I was flown to New York, feted in Manhattan, and spent five days holding a tape recorder as PJ spilled the beans.
It was traumatic, as PJ regularly broke down. As I am not used to weeping women, I spent a lot of time lamely proffering tissues. Her life had been destroyed by that one defining moment.
But what got her more than anything else was that no one believed her. Cosby was America’s most admired man. He was Heathcliff Huxtable in The Cosby Show, possibly the most successful sitcom of all time.
Ironically, The Cosby Show did more to ease South African race relations than much else in the grim 1980s.
Why would a five-star celeb molest anyone when he had an entire army of adoring groupies?
I had to get the book onto the streets in two months as alleged Cosby victims were suddenly falling all over themselves claiming ‘me too’.
I approached my New York publisher, who professed interest in the project, but the rabbit-inthe-spotlight look on his face told otherwise.
I finished the book in record time, and even if I admit it myself, it was an entertaining read.
Not only had PJ allegedly been raped by Cosby, she had also been kidnapped by a Middle Eastern businessman in Dubai, and was instrumental in shaming America’s most famous sports announcer Marv Albert in another sex scandal.
Suspenders and high heels
Marv, clad only in suspenders and high heels, had attacked PJ some years before, and she was the star witness in a trial where he was charged with attacking his girlfriend. Marv pleaded guilty after PJ’s evidence.
Sadly, PJ and Joanne had a major fallout as I finished the manuscript, and I was left considering my options. Do I go ahead publishing a book on the most powerful man in Hollywood, and the only two people in my corner were involved in a clawing match? Okay — so call me a coward.
Anyway, with Cosby’s conviction last month I skyped Joanne and asked if the book could be revisited. She shook her head. There was zero interest in Cosby, she said. With Harvey Weinstein, the #metoo movement and belligerent feminists ranting on about toxic masculinity, the public was intensely bored.
So the project has been shelved. But back to the Tale of Two Bills.
Although Cosby’s accusers are legion, he was brought to justice by one woman, Andrea Constand, a basketball coach.
His namesake Bill (Clinton) also has a legion of accusers. The three most prominent are Juanita Broaddrick, who claims he bit her lip during a sex attack, Gennifer Flowers, and Paula Jones, who was paid $850,000 to go away. Clinton says everything was consensual.
The women disagree.
Unlike Cosby, Clinton is a hipster idol. The American mainstream media defend him to the hilt.
So not surprisingly, Cosby is now saying the campaign against him was because he is black.
This is arrant nonsense as he is a proven sex offender.
But even so, the fact that Bill Clinton has never been seriously investigated despite repeated accusations, while Bill Cosby was, certainly provides some fuel for thought.