Bill Cosby Addresses Rape Allegations

Despite the horrifying rape allegations against Bill Cosby that have steadily increased in numbers over the past few weeks, the comedian's response up until now has been no response: So far, Cosby has taken to remaining completely silent about the claims. Meanwhile Cosby's lawyer, Marty Singer, has released statements that dismissed the allegations as "nonsense" and "ridiculous," while declaring that his client had no intentions of responding to the accusations. That all changed on Friday, however, the same day that an eighth woman accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her: In a new interview with Florida Today, Bill Cosby finally broke his silence about the rape allegations.

According to Gawker, Cosby addressed the allegations after learning of a radio station's offer to pay hecklers to interrupt his show at a Florida college:

The thing is, these people are prodding and pushing people and asking people to have a frat house mentality. Now suppose someone brings a weapon or decided to do more foolishness. There will be announcements made and the stations made some disclaimers, but what if people don't listen to what they said and they entice violence. That's not good for anyone.

That's basically a similar statement to those that his lawyer, Marty Singer, has been releasing since the claims gained traction in the media — and it doesn't do much to negate the horrifying accusations, it just shames the women who are speaking out with allegations. Cosby wasn't finished, however:

When you go to a civil rights march or something like that, at least there are meetings and some organization to it and people understand how to behave. There may be people coming to the show that don't know exactly what to do; there is no organization to it all.I know people are tired of me not saying anything. But a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos. People should fact check. People shouldn't have to go through that and shouldn't answer to innuendos.

Despite Cosby's belief that he's not obligated to respond to innuendos, the fact is that the multiple rape and sexual assault accusations he faces from alleged victims such as Lou Ferrigno's wife Carla, Janice Dickinson, Tamara Green and Barbara Bowman — among others — are far too serious to be ignored.

Up until now, responses to the allegations have come from everyone except the accused. In the midst of the scandal, TV Land pulled The Cosby Show reruns from syndication, Netflix postponed Cosby's comedy special and NBC dropped the comedian's upcoming sitcom. So far, Cosby seems to be the only one who doesn't understand why it's necessary for him to speak out, and sadly the cryptic, problematic statement he released doesn't do much to negate that claim.