Names and faces
Flanked by three women who say they were sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby, attorney Gloria Allred challenged the performer Wednesday to put $100 million in a fund for his accusers and let a panel of retired judges determine the truth about the claims. Allred made the proposal at a news conference at her Los Angeles office, where she said it was too late for most of the women who recently stepped forward to sue because the purported incidents were from decades ago. The attorney called on Cosby to either set aside the money or agree to waive the statute of limitations as a legal defense, which would allow the women to pursue lawsuits against him. Allred said more than 20 women are now making allegations of sexual assault against the comedian. Many of them, she said, have contacted her. The attorney said she was offering her two proposals as possible solutions to “this public dilemma and a way to determine if Bill Cosby is a saint or a sexual predator.” On Tuesday, a woman filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15. Judy Huth’s lawsuit appears to be the first filed in connection with a recent wave of sexual-assault accusations against the comedian. Calls to her attorney, Marc Strecker, and Cosby’s attorney, Martin Singer, were not immediately returned. Cosby has generally declined to discuss the recent allegations. In a statement last week, his attorney described them as “unsubstantiated, fantastical stories” and said lawsuits “are filed against people in the public eye every day.”
HBO has given the goahead to a series about the music scene in 1970s New York, written by Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter and including Martin Scorsese and
Mick Jagger as executive producers. Jagger’s son, James, is featured as the lead singer of the fictional punk rock band Nasty Bits. Mick Jagger famously sang about late 1970s New York in the Rolling Stones song “Shattered.” The story is told through the eyes of a record company president, played by Bobby Cannavale, who is searching for the next big thing in the era of punk and disco. Olivia Wilde, Ray Romano, Andrew Dice Clay, Bo Dietl and Jack Quaid also are featured. HBO didn’t have an estimate Tuesday on when the new series, currently untitled, may be ready.