Bill Cosby: Three More Women Come Forward; Number Of Accusers Nears 40
Three more women came forward Thursday, accusing comedy legend Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting them decades ago in fashions described in shocking similarity to the dozens of women who have come already come forward, the number of which has now climbed to 40.
According to Dana Feldman of Reuters, Janice Baker Kinney, Marcella Tate and Autumn Burns held a press conference, hosted by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, in advance of Cosby’s final performance on his latest comedy tour, with the hopes that fans will boycott the show in the face of a seemingly ever-mounting list of accusers alleging that Cosby drugged and then raped them over a period of time spanning decades. It was during this period that Cosby endeared himself to the American popular culture with his portrayal of Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable on the enduring and pioneering sitcom, The Cosby Show.
According to The Wrap, Baker-Kinney claims that her encounter with Cosby occurred in May 1982, while she worked as a bartender at Harrah’s in Reno. After taking three pills Cosby offered her, Baker-Kinney alleges that she lost consciousness while playing backgammon, only to regain consciousness naked and in bed with comedian. She alleges that Cosby told her, “This is between me and you,” and placed his fingers to his mouth as if to make a “shhh” sign.
“I was mortified at what had happened,. All this time, and for many, many years, I felt that this was my fault.”
Tate alleged that she met Cosby while working as a model at a Chicago club, called Faces, through mutual friends in 1975. She claims that Cosby called her one night for a ride from the airport to the Playboy Mansion, the site of another alleged Cosby assault, at which point she shared a glass of wine with the comedian before things got “cloudy.” She claims to have woken up in a separate room naked and in bed with the comedian.
Burns alleged that she met Cosby at while working as a game starter at the Sahara in 1970. She claims that Cosby forced oral copulation on her after drugging her drink, leaving her unable to fend him off. Burns says that she “carried shame all of her life due to the incident.”
Allred stated that the timing of the press conference was no accident. With other alleged victims still apparently yet to come forward, Allred hopes that the press conference will have an affect on the attendance of Cosby’s May 2 final performance of his “Far From Finished” comedy tour in Atlanta.
“I hope that the public will not buy tickets to his performance and that there will be many empty seats by the end of his performance.”
[Image via Alabama.com.]
