Cosby set to lecture on how to avoid sex claims
ACCUSED of sexual assault by up to 60 women, you might expect Bill Cosby to concentrate on clearing his name.
But far from keeping a low profile, the US entertainer plans to give talks advising men on how to avoid ending up in similar trouble.
The announcement comes days after the 79-year-old’s trial for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, 44, collapsed because the jury was ‘hopelessly deadlocked’. Cosby now faces a retrial.
The actor, who is known as ‘America’s dad’ for his role in long-running sitcom The Cosby Show, is on bail and still fighting accusations of assault from other women.
Cosby’s representative Andrew Wyatt said: ‘This is bigger than Bill Cosby.
‘This issue can affect any young person – especially young athletes of today – 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.’
He told US television show Good Day Alabama that this issue ‘also affects married men’.
Cosby’s plans were criticised by campaigners, who said he should focus on teaching a younger generation about sexual consent rather than how to avoid a conviction for assault.
The free town hall speeches, which will take place this summer in Alabama, will examine the decision to charge the actor last year.
Cosby’s offences are said to have taken place over the past 40 years but only Miss Constand’s case fell within the statute of limitations – the amount of time since the original offence in which charges can be brought.
Mr Wyatt’s colleague Ebonee Benson said it was essential to educate people because the statutes of limitations on sexual assault have been extended in certain US states, meaning victims have more time to report offences. She added: ‘People need to be educated on a brush against the shoulder.
‘Anything at this point can be considered sexual assault and it’s a good thing to be educated about the laws.’
Kristen Houser of the US National Sexual Violence Resource Center questioned whether ‘a person who has 60 allegations of sexual assault against him’ is the best role model to be educating others about sexual abuse.
Gloria Allred, a lawyer who represents several women who have accused Cosby of assault, said the workshops were ‘a transparent and slick effort’ to influence the pool from which jurors would be selected for his retrial.
Jodi Omear, spokesman for antisexual violence organisation RAINN, said: ‘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.’
The entertainer’s trial was called off last Friday after 52 hours of deliberations. Jurors have given the press conflicting accounts of how the vote was split.
Cosby, who insists the sex was consensual, went on trial in Norristown, Pennsylvania accused of drugging and molesting Miss Constand in 2004.
‘Spend time talking with people’