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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Paul Owen in New York

Damon Wayans criticised after calling Bill Cosby accusers 'unrapeable'

Damon Wayans
Damon Wayans has been criticised for verbal attacks on Bill Cosby’s accusers. Photograph: Amy Sussman/AP

Comedian and film star Damon Wayans was criticised on Saturday after he defended Bill Cosby against rape allegations and called some of those who have made accusations against the Cosby Show star “bitches” who were “unrapeable”.

Asked about the continued accusations against Cosby in an interview with radio programme The Breakfast Club, Wayans said: “If I was him, I would divorce my wife, wink wink, give her all my money, and then I would go to a deposition, I’d light one of them three-hour cigars, I’d have me some wine, and maybe a Quaalude, and I would just go off, because I don’t believe that he was raping.

“I think he was in relationships with all of them, and then he’s like: ‘You know what, it’s 78, it don’t work no more, I can’t get it up for any of y’all, bye bitches,’ And now they’re like, ‘Oh, really? Rape.’ Forty years – listen, how big is his penis that it gives you amnesia for 40 years?”

The host pointed out that some of those who had accused Cosby of rape and sexual assault had first come forward many years ago.

Wayans, the In Living Color and Saturday Night Live star, responded: “But if you listen to them talk, they go, ‘Well, the first time.’ The first time? Bitch, how many times did it happen? Just listen to what they’re saying.

“And some of them, really, is un-rape-able. When you look, I look at them and go, ‘No, he don’t want that. Get outta here!’”

He later partially backtracked, saying “there may be” some cases where Cosby was guilty. “For anybody who was raped by Bill Cosby, I’m sorry, and I hope you get justice,” he said.

More than 40 women have gone public in the past year with allegations against Cosby, 78, a once-beloved figure who has fallen into disgrace.

The entertainer faces a criminal investigation by Los Angeles police but has not been charged. He has acknowledged marital infidelity but denied criminal wrongdoing, saying any sexual encounters were consensual.

Many Twitter users were highly critical of Wayans for his remarks.

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