A Cosby confession? Not necessarily
After so many first-person stories of Bill Cosby drugging and raping women over decades, an old deposition, unsealed Monday by a Pennsylvania judge, may finally be the smoking gun.
According to documents obtained by the Associated Press, Cosby admitted in a 2005 court deposition that he obtained Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with.
He also admitted giving the sedative to at least one woman.
Cosby became a trending topic on Twitter within minutes of the story breaking.
“Bill Cosby admitted to drugging women. Now the story that 40 women came forward to tell will finally have some credibility,” tweeted writer and actor Frank Conniff. According to The Hollywood
Reporter, the documents also reveal Cosby testified he called Tom Illus of William Morris Agency and asked him to send money to one female accuser. Cosby is said to have testified that Illus, who is now dead, did not ask him why.
Could this new information force Cosby into a confession?
To date, about 40 women have come forward alleging sexual assault or misconduct from Cosby. Should he confess, “it also validates the victims, meaning they were telling the truth,” says communications expert Karen Friedman, author of Shut Up and Say Something.
But legally speaking, it remains in Cosby’s best interest to keep his mouth shut.
“He will hide behind his lawyers,” predicts Friedman. “He has never been charged and most of the accusations are barred by statutes of limitations.”
The court documents could be the best-case scenario for Cosby, says Jeetendr Sehdev, an authority on celebrity branding and professor of marketing at the University of Southern California. “It’s the closest we’re going to get to an admission of guilt and clarity around what happened.”