Bill Cosby still has his defenders
REVELATIONS: Latest news prompts mixed reactions
Several of Bill Cosby’s notable celebrity defenders, who had supported the comedian over the past year in the face of dozens of allegations of sexual assault, have remained in his corner despite newly uncovered sworn testimony from a 2005 civil suit brought by a Canadian woman in which he admitted he intended to give drugs to women with whom he wanted to have sex.
Whoopi Goldberg, a staunch ally of the comedian, refused to condemn Cosby on The View on Tuesday.
“I say this because this is my opinion, and in America still, I know it’s a shock, but you actually (are) innocent until proven guilty,” Goldberg said. “He has not been proven a rapist.”
“I think, again, we’ll see what happens as more information comes out,” she said. “People can make judgments. I don’t like snap judgments because I’ve had snap judgments made on me, so I’m very, very careful. Save your texts, save your nasty comments. I don’t care.”
Goldberg has faced criticism for how she has handled Cosby-related issues on the show in the past. She was widely lambasted for her line of questioning in a December interview with model Beverly Johnson — one of Cosby’s accusers — that included such queries as “If you knew that you had been drugged, were you worried about what you might have ingested?”
Co-host Raven-Symoné was slightly more cautious with her response, while declining to outright denounce Cosby.
“I don’t like to talk about it that much, because he’s the reason I’m on this panel in the first place, he gave me my first job,” she said, referring to her stint on The Cosby Show as a child. “At the same time, you need the proof. Then I’ll be able to give my judgment here or there.”
When Twitter users confronted Faizon Love, the actor known for Elf and Couples Retreat and a well-known Cosby supporter, to see whether he would backtrack on his initial defence, Love said people should ignore the Cosby news because it is not nearly as important as the recent church shooting in Charleston, S.C. “WHY YALL WORRIED ABOUT THAT BULLS--- BUT NOT WORRIED ABOUT WHATS GOING ON NOW,” Love tweeted. “You people kill me with this s---! This white boy walks into a church and kills 9 people you not mad at that, but this upsets you …”
A Twitter user tried to point out that it was in fact possible for black people to be upset about multiple issues simultaneously. Love wasn’t having it. “BLACK WOMEN AND BLACK CHILDREN BEEN RAPED FOR YEARS BUT THIS IS WHAT YOU … TAKE TO HEART????? SLAVES,” Love responded.
Singer Jill Scott also expressed skepticism toward the rape allegations and voiced her support for Cosby on Twitter in November. Like Love, she said people should be skeptical of the rape accusations because she believed there was a conspiracy to destroy Cosby’s legacy and black culture at large. “I side with substantiated proof when media/society is attempting to destroy a magnificent legacy,” she tweeted in December.
On Monday, Scott tweeted her dismay, acknowledging she had been wrong about Cosby because she was satisfied his testimony was “proof.”
“Sadly (Cosby’s) own testimony offers PROOF of terrible deeds, which is ALL I have ever required to believe the accusations,” Scott tweeted. “We live in America. Many African-American men are detained &/or imprisoned for crimes without evidence.”