3 More Women Accuse Bill Cosby Of Assault

The number of women who have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault has increased — again. Three more women accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault. They publicly came forward with their allegations in a press conference on April 23, with a civil rights attorney by their side. This brings the number of accusers to more than 40, according to Time.

Gloria Allred, the attorney representing these three women, said they are all choosing to speak out now because the comedian refuses to “acknowledge and take responsibility for his conduct towards women.” She also reminded the public that Cosby continues to perform his "Far From Finished" comedy tour, despite all of the allegations against him.

This has, of course, been a disturbing story from the beginning. When some of the accusations against him began to go viral in the news cycle in the fall of 2014, Cosby's lawyers made it clear that he would not be addressing them. But the lack of response makes things even more disconcerting. After all, it's hard to ignore numbers.

In terms of a response, the public has not gotten much at all from Cosby and his camp. Cosby's lawyer did issue a statement on the allegations in November which reads,

Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment. He would like to thank all his fans for the outpouring of support and assure them that, at age 77, he is doing his best work. There will be no further statement from Mr. Cosby or any of his representatives.

But that wasn't the end of the non-response response from Cosby. Since then, the public has heard about the comedian allegedly joking about the scandal at his comedy tour, about him claiming that he is not required to respond to allegations, and about him remaining calm when a heckler in his audience shouted at him that he was a rapist.

So will added numbers to the list of alleged victims encourage Cosby to really talk? If things keep going the way they have been, probably not. But just because he isn't talking doesn't mean that we should stop talking. In fact, it's all the more reason to. Otherwise, there will be a much smaller chance of finding real answers in this mess of an ongoing narrative. And answers are what we need. Doesn't the public — especially the alleged victims — deserve that much?

Image: Getty Images