Five women are suing Bill Cosby and multiple companies involved with The Cosby Show under a New York law that temporarily suspends the statute of limitations on sexual assault claims.
The suit alleges the companies facilitated sexual assault by “bestowing Bill Cosby with power or the appearance of power at The Cosby Show and beyond.” It also claims they knew or should have known that “Cosby was sexually abusing, assaulting, and/or battering women, including on their premises, but did nothing to stop it” and profited from the public perception that he was “America’s Dad.”
Most of the claims date back to the late 1980s and early 1990s: Lili Bernard says she met Cosby while working on The Cosby Show and was drugged and raped; Eden Tirl says she was assaulted in his dressing room during the taping of an episode; Jewel Gittens met with Cosby while trying to get a role on the show and says she was drugged and assaulted; Jennifer Thompson says she was assaulted as an 18-year-old model who turned to him as a mentor; Cindra Ladd says she met Cosby in 1969 and they were platonic friends until he drugged and raped her.
Cosby’s spokesman Andrew V. Wyatt on Tuesday sent The Hollywood Reporter a statement in response to the suit, which said the plaintiffs are unwilling to accept that Cosby “was vindicated by the [Pennsylvania] State Supreme Court almost a year and a half ago.” He says, “As we have always stated, and now America can see, this isn’t about justice for victims of alleged sexual assault, it’s ALL ABOUT MONEY. We believe that the courts, as well as the court of public opinion, will follow the rules of law and relieve Mr. Cosby of these alleged accusations. Mr. Cosby continues to vehemently deny all allegation waged against him and looks forward to defending himself in court.”
NBCUniversal declined to comment, as is their policy on pending legal matters. Carsey-Werner and Kaufman Astoria have not yet responded to a request for comment.
Shortly after the one-year window to file claims under New York’s Adult Survivors Act opened on Nov. 24 Donald Trump was sued by E. Jean Carroll and multiple suits have been filed against Atlantic Records and the Estate of Ahmet Ertegun. On Monday, director James Toback was sued under the same law by 38 women who accuse him of varying levels of sexual misconduct, along with the Harvard Club of New York City which they allege was complicit in allowing his behavior to go unchecked.
