Bill Cosby sex abuse scandal

[Ed Anger]

Ugh, podcasts. Blergh.

[Caliga]

Chicago is a cultural center in the US (despite its large Polish sausages) and is especially famous for its live improv and sketch comedy like Second City.

[Valmy]

Excellent sausages is a sign of an advanced culture!

[Caliga]

Excellent sausages is a sign of an advanced culture!

I never thought about it before, but you are quite correct.

[Sheilbh]

Out of interest has the various historic sexual abuse cases in the UK got any attention in the US, or Canada for that matter?

[Barrister]

Out of interest has the various historic sexual abuse cases in the UK got any attention in the US, or Canada for that matter?

Some, but pretty minimal.  Most of what I know is from languish.

[Valmy]

Out of interest has the various historic sexual abuse cases in the UK got any attention in the US, or Canada for that matter?

Not that I am aware of

Please don't tell me Brian Blessed is involved.

[Martinus]

Out of interest has the various historic sexual abuse cases in the UK got any attention in the US, or Canada for that matter?

Saville's case got a broad coverage in Poland, but I can't think of another.

[Ed Anger]

Out of interest has the various historic sexual abuse cases in the UK got any attention in the US, or Canada for that matter?

Saville got noticed on the nightly news.

The Belgian freak did too.

[Sheilbh]

Out of interest has the various historic sexual abuse cases in the UK got any attention in the US, or Canada for that matter?

Not that I am aware of

Please don't tell me Brian Blessed is involved.

No, thank God. Also Morecambe and Wise are so far in the clear.

There was a big media scandal at the start of it, but the main story is that Jimmy Savile, a light entertainer, died. It eventually came out that he'd been a serial sex abuser involving children as young as 8 up to people as old as 75 which he'd access to as a host of that sort of TV program and through his charity work for, say, the severely disabled, at Broadmoor prison, at various hospitals etc. He used his fame and power in the industry (and some libel lawyers) to shut people up when he was alive. At its peak there were over 400 lines of inquiry with 200 witnesses in numerous different constabularies. A map of Savile investigations:


That story prompted a lot people to come forward alleging that they'd been abused by Savile or other famous/prominent people abusing their position. So there's Gary Glitter who's a known paedophile who is now being investigated for new offences. DJs like Dave Lee Travis who was convicted for historic allegations sexually assaulting women, as was publicist Max Clifford. Rolf Harris has also been jailed for assaulting young girls and women from the 60s to the 80s.

Related to that there's an investigation which centres on the sexual abuse of boys and young men by, allegedly, MPs and ministers. So far the only confirmed case is Sir Cyril Smith who was an enormously obese Liberal MP from Rochdale. He used his position as governor of a correctional facility for boys to abuse them. There's lots swirling round (including allegations of at least two murders) linked to a guest house in South London.

In both strands of the investigations it seems that people are coming forward who felt they weren't able to in the past, when the offences were committed, and that they're more likely to be believed now. It's all very, very grim.

Here's an excellent (long) piece in the London Review of Books on the Savile strand:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n21/andrew-ohagan/light-entertainment

[Martinus]

I think I remember reading about Gary Glitter too, but it could have been on Languish.

[Sheilbh]

I think I remember reading about Gary Glitter too, but it could have been on Languish.

Yeah Gary Glitter's been going for ages. After he got done for child porn here he went to, I think, Cuba, then to Cambodia and eventually Vietnam where he got arrested for child abuse. He paid of the girl's parents so they dropped their charges and he got done on a lesser charge and spent some time in prison there. Now he's back in the UK I think.

[Martinus]

And now underage sex accusations added to the mix.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30305435

Hey! Hey! Hey!

[Martinus]

I gotta say, on some level I kinda feel sorry for Cosby. Assuming these accusations are true (and it seems more and more likely they are), his entire life is tumbling down in a way that does not even compare to Polanski or Allen (partially because there are so many victims, apparently, and partially because his entire public image - which was quite different and more family friendly than that of Polanski or Allen - is now being destroyed). Having seen his interview (which was published against his will), I don't know if he fully understands his situation yet. But once it hits him, I wouldn't be surprised if he offed himself.

[jimmy olsen]

The truth is out and it's as terrible as we thought.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0706/Unsealed-Cosby-admitted-he-obtained-quaaludes-to-drug-young-women

Cosby's lawyers had objected to the release of the material, arguing it would embarrass him. Ultimately, a judge unsealed just a small portion of the deposition.

"The stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious youngallegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct is a matter as to which the AP — and by extension the public — has a significant interest," U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno wrote.

Cosby, with his oft-espoused views on topics including childrearing, family life, education and crime, "has voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy that he is entitled to claim," the judge wrote.

Cosby, who starred as Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show" from 1984 to 1992, settled Constand's lawsuit under confidential terms in 2006. His lawyers in the Philadelphia case did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment on Monday. Constand consented to be identified but did not want to comment, her lawyer said.

"This evidence shows a pattern in which defendant 'mentored' naive young women and introduced drugs into the relationship, with and without the woman's knowledge, in order for him to achieve sexual satisfaction," Constand's lawyer, Dolores M. Troiani, argued in court papers.

Cosby, 77, has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct in episodes dating back more than four decades. Cosby has never been charged with a crime, and the statute of limitations on most of the accusations has expired.

"If today's report is true, Mr. Cosby admitted under oath 10 years ago sedating women for sexual purposes," said Lisa Bloom, attorney for model Janice Dickinson, who says she was drugged and raped. "Given that, how dare he publicly vilify Ms. Dickinson and accuse her of lying when she tells a very similar story?"

Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing several women, said she hopes to use the admission in court cases against the comedian.

Cosby, giving sworn testimony in the lawsuit accusing him of sexual assaulting Constand at his home in Pennsylvania in 2004, said he obtained seven quaalude prescriptions in the 1970s. Constand's lawyer asked if he had kept the sedatives through the 1990s, after they were banned, but was frustrated by objections from Cosby's attorney.

"When you got the quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?" Troiani asked.

"Yes," Cosby answered.

"Did you ever give any of these young women the quaaludes without their knowledge?" Troiani asked.

Cosby's lawyer again objected, leading Troiani to petition the federal judge to force Cosby to cooperate.

Cosby later said he gave Constand three half-pills of Benadryl, although Troiani in the documents voices doubt that was the drug involved.

Cosby had fought the AP's efforts to unseal the testimony, with his lawyer arguing that the deposition could reveal details of Cosby's marriage, sex life and prescription drug use.

"It would be terribly embarrassing for this material to come out," lawyer George M. Gowen III argued in June.

He also said the material would "prejudice him in eyes of the jury pool in Massachusetts," where Cosby is fighting defamation lawsuits brought by women who say his representatives smeared them by accusing them of lying.

Robreno, the judge, had temporarily sealed some documents in the Constand lawsuit but never ruled on a final seal before the case was settled. Under federal court rules in Pennsylvania, documents must be unsealed after two years unless a party can show specific harm. The judge ruled that Cosby's potential embarrassment was insufficient.

Robreno asked last month why Cosby was fighting the release of his sworn testimony, given that the accusations in the Constand lawsuit were already public.

"Why would he be embarrassed by his own version of the facts?" the judge said.

Cosby resigned in December from the board of trustees at Temple, where he was the popular face of the Philadelphia school in advertisements, fundraising campaigns and commencement speeches.

Lawyer Gayle Sproul, representing the AP, in court last month called the married Cosby "an icon" who "held himself out as someone who would guide the public in ways of morality."

Troiani, summarizing her evidence, painted a starkly different picture.

Cosby "has evidenced a predilection for sexual contact with women who are unconscious or drugged. His victims are young, 'star struck' and totally trusting of his public persona," Troiani argued.