# Can we talk about Bill Cosby? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075 "2014-11-19T15:24:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/261 "2014-11-21T19:59:02Z")
I agree. These stories are getting past the point of believability. There’s no way any man could get away with behavior like this. She’s claiming he just walks in, whips out his dick and shoves her face into it? Backstage at the Carson show with at least a hundred people near by? Yeah, that must of happened every time Cosby got a boner. :rolleyes: > **[Actress Says Bill Cosby Forced Oral Sex During 'Johnny Carson' Appearance](https://www.tmz.com/2014/11/20/bill-cosby-forced-oral-sex-victim-jonny-carson-louisa-moritz/)** > > An actress who played Rose in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and starred in the '70s show "Love American Style" claims Bill Cosby stuck his penis in her mouth in her dressing room before an appearance on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show." > [@](#): > > Cosby’s lawyer, Marty Singer, tells TMZ … “We’ve reached a point of absurdity. The stories are getting more ridiculous.” Singer adds, “Mortiz is a lawyer who was disciplined by the California State Bar and ordered not to practice. We pulled the documents – she can’t practice because she didn’t report certain quarterly reports … the nature of the reports is unclear from the documents.” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/262 "2014-11-21T20:07:02Z")
The press is beginning to rethink a few of these Cosby allegations. > **[New Cosby Accuser Has Long Criminal History, Including Fraud](https://www.tmz.com/2014/11/20/bill-cosby-sexual-assault-accuser-prison-fraud-linda-joy-traitz/)** > > One of Bill Cosby's alleged sexual assault victims recently got out of prison for, among other things, fraud ... and Cosby is now lashing out at her. > [@](#): > > Linda Joy Traitz claims Cosby tried to drug and assault her more than 40 years ago. Traitz came forward with her allegations in the last few days. In a Facebook post, she claims, “He drove out to the beach and opened a briefcase filled with assorted drugs and kept offering me pills.” > > Turns out she has a long criminal history. Traitz got out of prison in 2012 after serving more than 3 years for trafficking Oxycodone, possession of a controlled substance and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. > She’s been arrested and/or charged with various other crimes … including ID fraud, battery, theft and various drug offenses. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/263 "2014-11-21T20:08:08Z")
It was the trauma of being abused by Cosby that set her on that downward spiral into a life of crime … ---
**Author:** ![Clarisse\_McClellan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Clarisse\_McClellan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clarisse_McClellan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/264 "2014-11-21T20:11:44Z")
Twomore women have come forward. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/265 "2014-11-21T20:11:57Z")
I’m sure it’s easiest for the apologists to focus on the more outlandish and unusual claims, but many of them (Carla Ferrigno’s in particular) can’t be dismissed as easily. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/266 "2014-11-21T20:22:16Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > It wasn’t very “adorable” when he told Theo he could and would murder his ass anytime he felt like it just because he was his father. I didn’t watch much of his show, and certainly didn’t see this episode (if that’s the reference here), but, **DS** , your post reminded me of one of his comedy routines on an album (LP record) our family had in the 60s/70s when we were kids - where one of their kids was being unruly, and then the punch line is where one of the parents says to the child (something like, IIRC): “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it.” It was funny then, our parents sure laughed at it, and as young kids we thought, hey, it must be funny if Mom and Dad laughs at it. But it wasn’t funny 2 months ago when I heard it again. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/267 "2014-11-21T20:30:44Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Has there been any women that Cosby has worked with over the years, rushing forward to defend him? To me it doesn’t matter if there were any. And I don’t think there are. If 200,000 women say he’s never acted inappropriately, and 15 women claimed he raped them, then if those 15 women turned out to have factual claims would it make a difference? It just means he selected certain women to victimize. Realize there are important _ **IF** _s in my above. The accusers haven’t been proven right, but to me and in this case, it’s highly likely Cosby assaulted at least one of the accusers. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/268 "2014-11-21T20:31:42Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’m sure it’s easiest for the apologists to focus on the more outlandish and unusual claims, but many of them (Carla Ferrigno’s in particular) can’t be dismissed as easily. I’m actually thinking of coming forward myself, and just wait until you hear my story. (Still needs a bit of work …) ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/269 "2014-11-21T20:37:57Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Oftentimes, if the woman didn’t put a stop to it the implication was that going ahead was okay. Almost every guy and girl I knew in my late teens and twenties experienced this scenario numerous times over the course of their dating lives. Excuse me? I don’t really care if it is 2014, the 1970s or the stone age. A decent guy knows full well if a woman wishes to sleep with him or not and if there is any confusion he should take steps to make sure, like, I dunno, ask her or something. :rolleyes: While I agree that the law saw it differently in the past, forcing yourself upon a woman is not okay and it never was in the past either. Nor has there has ever been any great general confusion about which was which. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/270 "2014-11-21T21:31:22Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Has there been any women that Cosby has worked with over the years, rushing forward to defend him? What would that prove? That he failed to rape _every_ woman he met? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/271 "2014-11-21T21:35:29Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’m sure it’s easiest for the apologists to focus on the more outlandish and unusual claims, but many of them (Carla Ferrigno’s in particular) can’t be dismissed as easily. Actually Carla Ferrigno is the first of the allegations that caused me to :rolleyes: “Thirty years ago he tried to kiss me!” This is evidence that he raped someone - I don’t think. Maybe the rest are all telling the truth, but I can’t conclude that from what Mrs. Hulk says. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/272 "2014-11-21T21:49:05Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Actually Carla Ferrigno is the first of the allegations that caused me to :rolleyes: > > “Thirty years ago he tried to kiss me!” This is evidence that he raped someone - I don’t think. > > Maybe the rest are all telling the truth, but I can’t conclude that from what Mrs. Hulk says. > > Regards, > Shodan We can’t conclude anything for certain, but I feel the opposite way – if Cosby really is a drugger/rapist/general scumbag, I’d expect there to be many more ‘aborted rapes’ of this sort on top of the ones that succeeded. I think it fits with the general pattern, plus it’s much much harder to accuse a woman in a decades-long stable, successful, and financially secure marriage of attention-whoring or gold-digging (not that anyone deserves such an accusation, necessarily, based on stability/marriage/finances). ---
**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/273 "2014-11-21T21:57:20Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’m sure it’s easiest for the apologists to focus on the more outlandish and unusual claims, but many of them (Carla Ferrigno’s in particular) can’t be dismissed as easily. How convenient to label everyone who believes in “innocent until proven guilty” as apologists. Then again, I’d rather be branded as an apologist than stand there ignorantly holding a pitchfork any day. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/274 "2014-11-21T21:59:07Z")
> [@Club\_33](#): > > How convenient to label everyone who believes in “innocent until proven guilty” as apologists, but then again, I’d rather be branded as an apologist than hold a pitchfork any day. “Innocent until proven guilty” is a presumption of criminal law. It’s not an imperative to stick your head in the stand outside of a courtroom. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/275 "2014-11-21T22:34:36Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I didn’t watch much of his show, and certainly didn’t see this episode (if that’s the reference here), but, **DS** , your post reminded me of one of his comedy routines on an album (LP record) our family had in the 60s/70s when we were kids - where one of their kids was being unruly, and then the punch line is where one of the parents says to the child (something like, IIRC): “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it.” That’s what Bill Sr. told Bill Jr. & Russell. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/276 "2014-11-21T22:42:40Z")
> [@Club\_33](#): > > How convenient to label everyone who believes in “innocent until proven guilty” as apologists. Then again, I’d rather be branded as an apologist than stand there ignorantly holding a pitchfork any day. This precisely why I tend not to follow these cases all that closely. I will inevitably make a judgement based on whatever info is filtered through the [quite flawed] media. It never feels good to me. The whole thing just makes me queasy. Either he’s guilty which is bad or he’s not which means he’s been railroaded and his image has been tarnished irreperably. No good comes of this. (I’m not referring to the thread) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/277 "2014-11-21T22:49:45Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > “Innocent until proven guilty” is a presumption of criminal law. It’s not an imperative to stick your head in the stand outside of a courtroom. There’s an interesting thing about “innocent until proven guilty” and courtrooms: usually the courtroom is the venue where actual evidence on a case is presented. Also, refusing to jump on a band-wagon based on media reports isn’t sticking one’s head in the sand. By the way, yes, I am an apologist. I’m not an apologist for Cosby nor for anyone else accused of a crime. I’m an apologist for the idea you’re casually dismissing. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/278 "2014-11-21T23:16:49Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What would that prove? That he failed to rape _every_ woman he met? It would help to provide some sort of character witnesses in the court of public opinion. Even Charles Manson has found someone to say he’s not really that bad a guy, really. I’m not sure if Cosby’s lawyers have asked everyone who knows him to STFU or what, but it is weird that a pro-Cos camp hasn’t made a peep. (Or if they have, I missed it, which is also possible.) The only person I know who has met the man personally says he’s an arrogant asshole who’s rude to waiters. That was a guy (the waiter in question), and there’s a long road between being rude to waiters and drugging and raping people. But I will admit it took me from “Cosby? Dr. Huxtable? No WAY!” to “Eh, could be, I guess…” Because it’s easier to believe that bad people do bad things. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/279 "2014-11-21T23:28:24Z")
To date, [Stacy Dash](http://madamenoire.com/490445/stacey-dash-defends-bill-cosby-perfect-gentleman/) and [Raven Simone](https://hollywoodlife.com/2014/11/20/raven-simone-bill-cosby-rape-allegations/) have courageously decided to piss into the wind and defend him. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075/280 "2014-11-21T23:39:09Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Has there been any women that Cosby has worked with over the years, rushing forward to defend him? > [@WhyNot](#): > > It would help to provide some sort of character witnesses in the court of public opinion. Even Charles Manson has found someone to say he’s not really that bad a guy, really. > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > To date, [Stacy Dash](http://madamenoire.com/490445/stacey-dash-defends-bill-cosby-perfect-gentleman/) and [Raven Simone](https://hollywoodlife.com/2014/11/20/raven-simone-bill-cosby-rape-allegations/) have courageously decided to piss into the wind and defend him. Whoopi Goldberg has also [expressed her doubts](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2838255/Whoopi-Goldberg-sides-Bill-Cosby-expresses-skepticism-sexual-assault-claims-didn-t-accuser-rape-kit.html). > [@](#): > > Goldberg said she is not convinced by the claims against Cosby. And the fact that he settled a 2005 lawsuit brought by another sex assault accuser, should not be seen as an admission of guilt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-bill-cosby/705075.md?page=15)