Disgraced US comedian Bill Cosby has signalled he wants to return to the stand-up comedy circuit in 2023, despite several women coming forward in recent weeks alleging he forced them into sexual acts or raped them in the 1980s and ’90s.
Cosby made the unexpected announcement during a radio interview on Ohio-based internet radio station WWGH with host Scott Spears on Thursday.
When Spears asked Cosby whether 2023 would be the right time for him to return to performing, he responded: “Yes, because there’s so much fun to be had in this storytelling that I do.”
“Years ago, maybe 10 years ago, I found it was better to say it after I write it.”
A representative of Cosby’s confirmed to Variety that the comedian is “looking at spring/summer to start touring”.
Cosby, 85, was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, an employee at his alma mater Temple University, at his mansion in 2004.
More than 50 other women had also accused Cosby of a similar pattern of drugging and assaulting them.
Ms Constand’s allegations were the only ones against Cosby that were not too old to allow for criminal charges.
He was released in 2021 following nearly three years in prison after Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court overturned the conviction.
The court said he should never have faced charges after striking a non-prosecution deal with a previous district attorney more than 15 years earlier.
During a 2005 suit, Cosby admitted to giving women quaaludes with assurances from then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr that the information would not be used to prosecute him.
When the information was used in the subsequent trial in 2015, it was ruled that Mr Castor’s successor, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, had not honoured the agreement.
In 2021, Mr Steele noted that a jury had found Cosby guilty, and the Supreme Court’s decision was not based on the facts of the case.
More recent accusations
Cosby has continued to face additional sexual assault accusations from other women.
Earlier this month, five women filed a lawsuit alleging that the Cosby Show star raped them or forced them into sexual acts in the 1980s and ’90s.
According to Variety, the fifth allegation involves Cindra Ladd, a former Hollywood executive who accused Mr Cosby of raping her in 1969.
In response, Cosby’s spokesman said, “Mr Cosby continues to vehemently deny all allegations waged against him and looks forward to defending himself in court.”
“The reality of my situation gets clearer and clearer,” Cosby told Spears in the 15-minute interview.
“The reality that my wife and family and friends respect me and respect what I have tried to do and will continue to do when we quote unquote ‘get out of this mess’.
“I know who my enemies happen to be and I know why they are my enemies, and I think all told up, as you would say, where we are, where we’re going, I respect people like [Spears] and others who have had a clear viewpoint of what has happened to me.
“When I come out of this, I feel that I will be able to perform and be the Bill Cosby that my audience knows me to be.”
Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury found Cosby liable in a civil case brought by Judy Huth, a woman who said he sexually assaulted her as a teenager in the 1970s.
Cosby denied the allegation and did not appear in person at the trial.
