Bill Cosby plans town halls about sexual assault issues

Announcement of speeches on avoiding false allegations comes days after his own trial

Bill Cosby is planning a series of town hall meetings this summer to educate people, including young athletes and married men, on how to protect themselves from false accusations of sexual assault, two of his representatives said Wednesday.

The announcement came just days after Cosby’s trial on sexual assault charges ended in a hung jury and while he is still battling several suits from other women who say he assaulted them too.

“This issue is bigger than Bill Cosby,” his representative Andrew Wyatt said on Good Day Alabama, a show on WBRC Fox 6 in Birmingham.

“This issue can affect any young person — especially young athletes of today,” he continued, “and they need to know what they are facing when they are hanging out and partying when they are doing certain things they shouldn’t be doing.”

Wyatt said the issue “also affects married men.” Ebonee M. Benson, who works with Wyatt and joined him on the program, said the need for awareness had grown because the statutes of limitations on sexual assault have extended in several states, in some cases aided by the efforts of women who have accused Cosby of molesting them.

“People need to be educated on a brush against the shoulder,” she said. “Anything at this point can be considered sexual assault.”

The Cosby announcement drew rebukes from several quarters, including the anti-sexual violence organization RAINN.

“It would be more useful if Mr. Cosby would spend time talking with people about how not to commit sexual assault in the first place,” said Jodi Omear, an organization spokesperson.

Kristen Houser of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center said a number of organizations exist that would be far more appropriate choices to lead an educational program on this issue than Cosby, whom she described as “a person who has 60 allegations of sexual assault against” him.

Gloria Allred, a lawyer who represents several women who have accused Cosby of assault, said the “workshops appear to be a transparent and slick effort to attempt to influence the jury pool from which jurors will be selected for his second criminal trial.”

Cosby’s jury deliberated for 52 hours before a mistrial was declared because it was deadlocked.