Bill Cosby and the rape claims

I'm sure everyone knows who Bill Cosby is, he is a legend in stand up comedy, capable of turning 20 minutes of material into an hour all while keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.  He has had great success in television most notably with the Cosby Show, which was based off his comedy act:  Bill Cosby, Himself.  He has not been as successful in movies as many of his projects bombed at the box office.  He broke the racial barrier in the 80's and brought a black family to prime time television that is still in syndication.

In more recent years he has been a vocal critic of how black youth conduct themself and how the thug life is celebrated in the media.  He was a pitch man, earning him the nickname Shill Cosby, as he was the face for companies such as Coke and Jello.

However, in the past decade starting with 2005, women began to come forward accusing Cosby of rape. There are a few important facts to remember.  First, no criminal charges have ever been brought against Dr. Cosby.  None.  Although one person did report a rape to the police, she waited far too long, a year, and as such blood tests, or unite tests for drugs.  Second, rape is the forceful penetration of another against their will or consent.  That definition is key.  Rape is not two people getting plastered at a party and hooking up and then regretting that decision the next day.  However, this is not what Dr. Cosby is accused of doing.

In each of the accusations that have come to light the details are the same.  Bill Cosby was not drinking and was allegedly putting roofies in the drinks of his victims.  Each of the stories involve blacking out after being given a drink and regaining consciousness in various stages of undress.  This is not a case of buyers remorse, where a woman has a few too many and gets freaky.  Bill Cosby is accused of drugging these women to the point where they are not able to give consent.  This is rape.

One of the victims to come forward is Joan Tarshis who claims to have been raped twice.  Below is her interview on CNN with Don Lemon

What is freaking everyone out today is his question regarding the forced blow job she accuses Cosby of making her do.  He suggested that she bite down on it.

Now while this might seem like a reasonable question, it is not.  The reason is, she allegedly was drugged. When she started to come to, she noticed that she was being undressed and about to be penetrated.  She told him she had infections hoping that would turn him off but instead he went for her mouth.  Now, I can't imagine the blowjob was any good, especially with a semi-conscious girl.  I have had blowjobs where the lady just lies there with an open mouth, it is not very stimulating.  I have also had some really bad blowjobs which you can read about here.

http://happycabbie.blogspot.com/2014/08/there-is-such-thing-as-bad-bj.html

I don't have experience with drugging girls but by definition if you have to give a girl a roofie in order to get laid, she is not consenting and you are raping her.

A more legitimate question is why would she see him again?  Why would she accept drinks from someone who has drugged and raped her in the past?  These are the questions people should be focused on.  Finally, will anyone step forward and press charges.  If the accusations are true, then it is not enough to just give an interview on television.  Someone needs to follow through with the police.  Sadly though, this does not seem to be an option due to statute of limitations regarding rape.

In addition to the one person who did go to the police, she simply waited too long for blood and urine tests to be performed and as such no credible evidence to get a search warrant for the drugs.  Read about the story here.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/19/showbiz/bill-cosby-rape-allegation-prosecutor/index.html

Now in the cases of these women it is understandable why they stayed silent.  First, they did not know about the other victims.  They most likely thought they were the only one.  Bill Cosby, at the time of these rapes, was on top of the world, who would believe them?  Add that to the guilt rape victims often feel and it is understandable why they stayed silent for so long.

Whoppi Goldberg on the view did have some words to say on this issue and I think everyone should take a listen.

For the complete timeline of the rape accusations click on this link to TIME magazine.

As for me, I think we can all agree on this.  Bill Cosby if nothing else, did cheat on his wife.  He did use his celebrity status to lure young women.  Proving rape is going to be very difficult.  Because the women claimed to have been drugged, their memory of events are unreliable.  There are no witnesses, other than the people who can only vouch that he was alone with these women.  To the rape itself, there are no witnesses.  These two factors will make it easy for Cosby's lawyers.  Third, because one of the victims settled out of court, those details may never be known.  Furthermore, to echo Whoppi Goldberg's point a settlement does not equal guilty.  Often times it is cheaper and easier to just settle rather than go through a trial.

So what is the end goal.  There have been no new victims stepping forward, only victims of old events.  So if Bill Cosby is a rapist as these 13 women allege, where are the new victims?  New victims would mean that he would fall under the statute of limitations and thus criminal charges could be brought.  Two possible answers to that come to mind.  The first, is that with old age his testosterone is less and thus no longer able to get it up.  As such, he no longer targets young women.  The second, and more probable guess, is that his wife made it clear that he is to stop or else she will leave him and her lawyer will leave him broke.  I have no doubt that she has his balls in a sling as she stands by his side throughout this ordeal.

In the end, Bill Cosby is getting hurt where it really counts, his image.  He is not going to jail, sometimes people are just to rich and famous simple as that.  NBC and Netflix have already pulled out on projects they were working with him.  I can't imagine any company doing business with him as their pitchman.  Although it hasn't happened yet, his television shows might be pulled from syndication.  I actually hope that doesn't happen though because it would hurt the other actors on the show many of whom did not go on past the Cosby Show.

As for Don Lemon he has since apologized for the blow job biting question.

Note to Don Lemon, when you begin your apology with the word, "If" your apology is pointless.  In order for an apology to be genuine you need to understand why you were wrong.  The word "if" does not belong. I will say this though.  Many on social media are calling on CNN to fire him.  This is hypersensitivity.  We really need to stop calling on someone to be fired just because they said or did something that offended somebody.  

To continue this discussion follow up with me on Twitter.

Finally, this stand up bit from 1969 has a whole new meaning