Page 12 - IAV Digital Magazine #429

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Bill Cosby Says He Isn't Planning A “Sexual Assault Tour”
By Eric Levenson and Stephanie Becker, CNN
(CNN)Bill Cosby is not planning to hold a "sexual assault tour," the comedian said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The current propaganda that I am going to con- duct a sexual assault tour is false," Cosby said. "Any further information about public plans will be given at the appropriate time."
Last week, days after Cosby's criminal assault case ended in a mistrial, Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt said that the 79- year-old comedi- an planned to hold 5 to 7 town halls this summer in which he would warn young peo- ple about issues related to sexual assault allega- tions.
"This is not a sexual assault tour as many media have sen- sationalized it. It is an educational
tour on what peo- ple should be cognizant of in regard to sexual abuse allegations and the dangers," Wyatt told CNN.
Wyatt said Cosby would take ques- tions from the audience at these events, but wouldn't be able to answer all the questions because of pend- ing litigation. He said Cosby's attorneys had signed off on the idea.
The plans drew harsh criticism from women's advocacy groups, who called it "dis- gusting" and "out- rageous." Cosby has been accused of sexu- al misconduct by dozens of women, though he has not been convicted of any crimes.
Cosby's attorney also said on Tuesday that the comedian will not be speaking about sexual assault issues at town halls this summer, saying that the coming
retrial of his crimi- nal case was too important to jeop- ardize.
"I think there's been a lot of mis- information about the concept of a town hall," said Angela Agrusa, Cosby's attorney. "Mr. Cosby will not be speaking about sexual assault. He never intended to speak about sexual assault."
Over the week- end, Wyatt and spokeswoman Ebonee Benson said the town halls would pri- marily be
about restoring Cosby's image, not sexual
assault.
But on Tuesday, Agrusa said those town halls likely wouldn't happen at all because he still faces three charges of aggra- vated indecent assault for allegedly drug- ging and assault- ing Andrea Constand in 2004.
"He does not take lightly these crim- inal charges," she said. "He would never do anything that undermined the import of this issue. So I don't see him speaking publicly like that, no."
Agrusa's rejection of the town halls
came in com- ments after a hearing in a civil case against Cosby in Santa Monica,
California on Tuesday. That case revolves around allega- tions Cosby sexu- ally assaulted Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old.
A date for that civil trial was ten- tatively set for July 30, 2018. Cosby faces a number of civil lawsuits in addi- tion to the poten- tial retrial of his criminal case.
In May, Cosby said that he
hoped to get back toperform- ing comedy and motivational speaking after the criminal trial ends. Agrusa said Tuesday he still feels that way.
"I am confident that he does want to come back, be in the public per- forming, and I think since the mistrial and the hung jury he has received a lot of demands from people who want to hear him, peo- ple who support him, people who still believe in him. And he'd like, at some point hopefully soon, to be able to perform again," she said.
Still, she said she doesn't imagine there will be a town hall in July in Birmingham, Alabama, as his spokespeople said last week.
"I think he'd like to be able to pub- licly perform, I just don't think the timing is right," she said.
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