Walking away from Cosby: Deserters keep adding up

[Lite Beer]

Walking away from Cosby: Deserters keep adding up
The Associated Press

The sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby had already severely damaged his career even before The Associated Press revealed this week that he admitted under oath in 2005 to obtaining quaaludes to give to young women he wanted to have sex with. But now even the hangers-on are walking away.

A look at the efforts to erase Cosby, and who's sticking with him:

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MEDAL OF FREEDOM

Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment, a group supporting sexual assault victims, launched a campaign Wednesday to revoke Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal of Freedom.

As of midday Saturday, more than 5,500 people had signed the petition posted on the White House's "We the People" website. If the petition gets 100,000 signatures by Aug. 7, the White House will review it and respond.

President George W. Bush presented the nation's highest civilian honor to Cosby in 2002, citing his revolutionary portrayal of blacks on television and his interest and dedication to education.

"Bill Cosby's name does not belong among this distinguished list," the group said.

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OHIO COLLEGE

Central State University, a historically black college in Wilberforce, Ohio, says it has covered up Bill Cosby's name on a campus sign in front of a building named for him.

Edwina Blackwell Clark, a spokeswoman for Central State University in Wilberforce, tells the Dayton Daily News (http://bit.ly/1M0jk9Y ) that the sign in front of the Camille O. and William H Cosby Mass Communications Center no longer displays Cosby's name.

The university said earlier it was considering changing the name of the building. A final decision could be made this fall.

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WALT DISNEY WORLD

Walt Disney World removed a statue of Cosby from its Hollywood Studios theme park in Florida after it closed Tuesday night, a spokeswoman said.

The statute had been at Disney's Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame Plaza.

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HOMETOWN MURAL

The Mural Arts Program in Cosby's native Philadelphia is considering removing a work featuring the entertainer.

"Recent headlines" factored into its decision to move the mural much higher on a list of works up for decommissioning, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The mural celebrating Father's Day features Cosby in a trademark purple sweater between South African leader Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

It went up in 2008 but had already been considered for decommissioning because the wall where it's painted — under a train bridge — is in bad shape.

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HOW INDUSTRY IS RESPONDING

NBC had already walked away from plans to make another Cosby sitcom, TV Land took reruns of the 1980s-era "The Cosby Show" off the air, and Netflix shelved plans for a standup special.

This week, the Bounce television network pulled reruns of the comedian's CBS sitcom "Cosby." The network, which is geared toward black viewers, had aired back-to-back episodes of "Cosby" each weekday.

And the smaller Centric cable network, which is affiliated with BET and aimed at black women, said it was dropping "The Cosby Show," a big chunk of its schedule.

However, Hulu is still offering every episode of "The Cosby Show," and Amazon continues to offer it streaming, along with DVDs.

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WALK OF FAME STAR

Black civil rights leaders on Thursday called on the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to remove Bill Cosby's star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, saying it could otherwise become a "walk of shame."

"Cosby to black America is an icon, but once an icon figure betrays the trust of the community, we have to withdraw our support and condemn their actions," said Najee Ali, who was among those calling for the star's removal "If they don't remove that star, we can call it the walk of shame."

The chamber said it had no plans to remove Cosby's star, and has never removed one before.

"Once a star has been added to the Walk, it is considered a part of the historic fabric of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Because of this, we have never removed a star from the Walk," chamber president Leron Gubler said in a statement.

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SMITHSONIAN

The Smithsonian Institution is standing behind a museum exhibition that relies in part on the art collection of Bill Cosby and his wife.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art opened the exhibition of African and African-American artwork in November.

The museum said Tuesday that it does not condone Cosby's behavior but that the exhibit is about the artworks and the artists, not about the owners of the collections.

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BLACK CONSERVATIVES

Project 21, a black conservative leadership network, on Friday criticized the federal judge who unsealed portions of Bill Cosby's deposition.

The judge had said he unsealed the 2005 documents because local court rules favor transparency and because Cosby's claims of embarrassment were insufficient legal grounds to keep them sealed.

He also said Cosby "voluntarily narrowed (his) zone of privacy" when he used the media "soap box" to comment on other people's behavior.

But Cosby's public statements about parenthood, crime and other issues shouldn't have played a part in the decision, said Project 21, sponsored by the Washington-based National Center for Public Policy Research.

The documents should be sealed or unsealed based solely on "legal reasons, not due to Cosby's beliefs," the group said.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-07-12

[Credo]

Personally, I think they should not pursue all these things unless/until someone is legally found guilty of a crime.

He needs to prosecuted, not persecuted.

[AdamRich]

Personally, I think they should not pursue all these things unless/until someone is legally found guilty of a crime.

He needs to prosecuted, not persecuted.

Can't prosecute him. The statute of limitations has passed.

[BuaBS]

Cancelling the Cosby show....a bit harsh....How are the other cast members going to survive without their income checks from the re-runs?

None of them really made it. Lisa Bonet will get her alimony check from Kravitz.

[little mary sunshine]

On the surface, admired for family values

And good deeds, below the surface greedy,

Alleged rapist, druggie. Another "Tiger"...

You never know....So sad

[spidermike007]

On the surface, admired for family values

And good deeds, below the surface greedy,

Alleged rapist, druggie. Another "Tiger"...

You never know....So sad

Tiger cheated on his wife. As far as we know he never raped a women and they were all quite willing to get naked with him. Quite a bit of difference. If the allegations against Cosby are true, he is a monster.

[little mary sunshine]

Tiger's image of a devoted father and loving Husband was shattered by his true <deleted> Self, lots of pain for children with divorce
And break up of family, not the monster Cosby is alleged to be just self serving, Low life jerk . A real disappointment .

[Ulic]

I wish there was a link to the petition petition to get the White House to respond. As for supporters jumping ship the only one I have heard that is hanging in and still supporting him is Whoopi Goldberg. Now from the sounds of her defense she would also probably defend O.J. Simpson. Now for me all this is all fine although misguided as long as she also believes the Confederate Battle Flag should still fly as a symbol of southern heritage. If she supports Cosby and OJ and not the Confederate Battle Flag to fly she is clearly a racist. To be clear, as far as I am concerned, O.J. is guilty of murdering his wife, Cosby is guilty of being a serial rapist and as the Confederate Battle Flag was only dusted off and flown on the state capital dome in 1962 when civil rights were being fought for, it is a racist symbol of a bygone era that should be relegated to museums and civil war reenactments. Whoopi Goldberg should go stand in a corner, and feel shame.

[spidermike007]

I wish there was a link to the petition petition to get the White House to respond. As for supporters jumping ship the only one I have heard that is hanging in and still supporting him is Whoopi Goldberg. Now from the sounds of her defense she would also probably defend O.J. Simpson. Now for me all this is all fine although misguided as long as she also believes the Confederate Battle Flag should still fly as a symbol of southern heritage. If she supports Cosby and OJ and not the Confederate Battle Flag to fly she is clearly a racist. To be clear, as far as I am concerned, O.J. is guilty of murdering his wife, Cosby is guilty of being a serial rapist and as the Confederate Battle Flag was only dusted off and flown on the state capital dome in 1962 when civil rights were being fought for, it is a racist symbol of a bygone era that should be relegated to museums and civil war reenactments. Whoopi Goldberg should go stand in a corner, and feel shame.

Whoopi is well past the point of looking silly, churlish, childish, overly proud, racially biased and not so smart.

[TheAppletons]

Halloween at the Cosby house:

[SEEDGER]

This just goes to show how twisted the American society has become. If your a Politician and you take a cigar and place it inside the vagina of an intern and then lie about it while you are a sitting president in the Oval office; nothing happens except you retire and get paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak at universities. But oh if you are a black comedian who says one thing but has done something else well lets trow him to the wolves! &lt;deleted&gt; America! And I can say this because I'm an American!

[AYJAYDEE]

This just goes to show how twisted the American society has become. If your a Politician and you take a cigar and place it inside the vagina of an intern and then lie about it while you are a sitting president in the Oval office; nothing happens except you retire and get paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak at universities. But oh if you are a black comedian who says one thing but has done something else well lets trow him to the wolves! <deleted> America! And I can say this because I'm an American!

he was impeached by the house, disbarred from Supreme Court and had his law license suspended for five years

[Scott]

Please stay on topic, which is about Bill Cosby.

[kokesaat]

Seems to me there's a world of difference between a professional golfer messing around with other willing adult women, or even the President of the US messing around with a consenting adult woman......and a man who qualuddes his women into submission.

[AYJAYDEE]

Seems to me there's a world of difference between a professional golfer messing around with other willing adult women, or even the President of the US messing around with a consenting adult woman......and a man who qualuddes his women into submission.

IF they took the drugs unknowingly

[TheAppletons]

Seems to me there's a world of difference between a professional golfer messing around with other willing adult women, or even the President of the US messing around with a consenting adult woman......and a man who qualuddes his women into submission.

IF they took the drugs unknowingly

Yeah, guess what? If even one of the women in question took the quaaludes knowingly - and was then raped by Bill Cosby - it's still a crime. The statutes say nothing about extenuating circumstances under which it's acceptable to rape someone. Is that really the argument you want to make?

(And I can't believe a previous poster is so asinine as to compare foreplay between two consenting adults - Clinton/Lewinsky - to Cosby's forcible rapes.)

[AYJAYDEE]

Seems to me there's a world of difference between a professional golfer messing around with other willing adult women, or even the President of the US messing around with a consenting adult woman......and a man who qualuddes his women into submission.

IF they took the drugs unknowingly

Yeah, guess what? If even one of the women in question took the quaaludes knowingly - and was then raped by Bill Cosby - it's still a crime. The statutes say nothing about extenuating circumstances under which it's acceptable to rape someone. Is that really the argument you want to make?

(And I can't believe a previous poster is so asinine as to compare foreplay between two consenting adults - Clinton/Lewinsky - to Cosby's forcible rapes.)

i'm suggesting theres a possibility they took the drugs knowingly and consented to sex. i''m not defending rape

[Linky]

If statute of limitations are gone then he will not be convicted. Is there a limitation on civil proceedings?

[TheAppletons]

If statute of limitations are gone then he will not be convicted. Is there a limitation on civil proceedings?

There is no limitation on civil proceedings, to my knowledge. Several of the accusers have filed suit against him.

There is also one case that has NOT passed the statue of limitations - Chloe Goins - and LAPD has an active criminal investigation into the allegations or so they say.

[SheungWan]

Seems to me there's a world of difference between a professional golfer messing around with other willing adult women, or even the President of the US messing around with a consenting adult woman......and a man who qualuddes his women into submission.

IF they took the drugs unknowingly

Yeah, guess what? If even one of the women in question took the quaaludes knowingly - and was then raped by Bill Cosby - it's still a crime. The statutes say nothing about extenuating circumstances under which it's acceptable to rape someone. Is that really the argument you want to make?

(And I can't believe a previous poster is so asinine as to compare foreplay between two consenting adults - Clinton/Lewinsky - to Cosby's forcible rapes.)

i'm suggesting theres a possibility they took the drugs knowingly and consented to sex. i''m not defending rape

You are suggesting a weasel whitewash of rape. Good luck and good luck to his attornies throwing that hat into the ring.