Bill Cosby Returns to Stage Amid New Sexual Abuse Allegations
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Jemal Countess/Getty Images(PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas) — Bill Cosby took the stage in the Bahamas Thursday night for a women’s charity event and, despite opening the show on a personal note, he didn’t comment on the recent sexual abuse allegations against him.
Cosby, 77, began the show at the Atlantis Resort with stories of his life growing up in the housing projects in Philadelphia, followed by an evening of laughter and applause.
He never commented or alluded to the allegations by several women that he drugged and raped or sexually abused them, some of their stories dating back as far as five decades ago.
The audience not only enjoyed Cosby’s set, but some defended him.
“It’s sad that somebody so famous can be brought down, you know, by this,” a member of the audience told ABC.
The women’s group that organized the event, The Links Inc., addressed having Cosby perform amid all the accusations.
“Recent accusations against Bill Cosby are alarming and unsettling,” the group told ABC News. “Being that no formal charges have been filed against Mr. Cosby, we therefore don’t deem it appropriate to further comment on the accusations.”
This performance ended a week in which several women have stepped forward with the abuse allegations.
Cosby’s attorneys told ABC News overnight that two women who came forward with allegations Thursday are simply accusers “coming out of the woodwork with fabricated or unsubstantiated stories.”
Cosby, who has never been criminally charged in connection with the allegations and has repeatedly denied them in the past, was first publicly accused of assault 10 years ago, in 2004. The allegations have gained attention in recent weeks as a number of women have come forward.
John P. Schmitt, one of Cosby’s lawyer, posted a notice this past Sunday to the comedian’s website, saying Cosby would not be addressing “decade-old, discredited allegations.”
“The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true,” Schmitt said in the statement. “There will be no further statement from Mr. Cosby or any of his representatives.”
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