Bill Cosby’s family has stepped up its push-back against the rash of sexual assault allegations engulfing the TV star, with his daughter Evin protesting to his fans that he “is the FATHER you thought you knew.”
Evin Cosby’s brief statement to Access Hollywood came just a few hours after her mother Camille broke her silence to attack media coverage of the sex allegations. Camille Cosby accused reporters of a “breakneck rush to run stories without any corroboration”, referring to the by now more than 20 women who have come forward alleging that they were drugged, molested and in some cases raped by her husband.
Like her mother, Evin, 38, alluded to the character of loveable, respected Dr Cliff Huxtable, played by Cosby in the 1980s hit The Cosby Show, in a bid to reassure fans that they could still trust him. She said: “The Cosby Show was my today’s TV reality show.”
In her statement, Camille similarly said: “He is the man you thought you knew.”
After several weeks in which the Cosby family maintained a strict silence about the allegations – the star appeared on NPR only to respond to questions with awkward prolonged pauses – key members of the family have now begun to wage what is beginning to look like a concerted counteroffensive.
On Saturday the New York Post’s gossip column, Page Six, ran the first recent comments from the star himself uttered outside the realm of his one-person stage show, which has suffered several cancellations in recent days. The column quoted Cosby saying that he expected black media outlets to “uphold the standards of excellence in journalism” and keep a “neutral mind” about the stories.
On Tuesday, Cosby complained about the New York Post’s publication of his remarks through his lawyer John Schmitt, who said that the actor had been duped into making them over the phone. In a statement, Schmitt said that the writer of the article, Stacy Brown, had presented himself to Cosby as a freelance reporter for African American news outlets.
Schmitt accused Brown of failing to “adhere to the most basic standards of his profession.” He “did not indicate that he was interviewing Mr Cosby for publication, did not say that he was reporting for the New York Post, and did not tell Mr Cosby that the conversation was being recorded.”
The Cosby family’s multiple attacks on the media are unlikely to stop the legal process that has now been set in train in the wake of the allegations. In Los Angeles, Judy Huth has filed a civil lawsuit against the TV comic alleging that he molested her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974 when she was underaged. The LAPD has also taken an interest.
Gloria Allred, the celebrated lawyer who represents Huth in her dealings with the LAPD, responded on Tuesday to Camille Cosby’s provocative question: “Who is the victim?” She said: “If Camille Cosby would like to know who the real victim is, I invite her to sit down with my clients and other women who allege that they were victims of Bill Cosby and hear from them in person the details of what they allege that her husband did to them. Then Camille can decide who the real victim is.”
Cosby’s lawyer Martin Singer has consistently described the allegations as false and some as ridiculous and “past the point of absurdity”.
