Who is Bill Cosby, currently being sued for sexual assault by multiple women

This is the latest in a series of allegations against Cosby, who used to be endearingly referred to as “America’s Dad” for his role in the 1980s television comedy The Cosby Show. Till date, over 60 women have levelled accusations against Cosby, stretching back decades.

Now 85, a Pennsylvania jury found Cosby guilty in 2018 of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, an employee at his alma mater Temple University in Philadelphia, in 2004. Consequently, he spent three years in a Pennsylvania prison before the state’s Supreme Court threw out his case in 2021.

America’s Dad

Bill Cosby used to be one of the most beloved figures in American television and pop culture. He began his career in the 1960s in San Francisco as a standup comic. Throughout the decade, he released several standup comedy records, winning him consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album from 1965 to 1970.

In 1966, Cosby won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, making him the first African-American to earn an Emmy Award for acting. Throughout the 1970s, Cosby cemented his position as one of the foremost comics in the US, starring in numerous films and TV shows, from Sidney Poitier’s Uptown Saturday Night (1974) to the beloved children animated show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972-1985).

In the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in the television sitcom The Cosby Show (1984-1992), which was rated as the number one show in America from 1985 through 1989. The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an affluent African-American family and earned him the moniker of “America’s Dad” for his portrayal of Cliff Huxtable.

In his prime, Cosby was one of the most desired figures in American advertising, endorsing a number of brands such as White Owl Cigars, Jell-O, Del Monte, Ford, Coca Cola, American Red Cross, and Kodak. Of particular note, was his appeal with white consumers despite being an African-American man himself.

Sexual assault allegations

While sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby first entered widespread public consciousness in 2014, the earliest known accusations were made as far back as the 1980s.

Cosby faced his first legal battle in 2004, when Andrea Constand alleged that he had drugged and raped her in his Pennsylvania house in 2000. After Pennsylvania’s district attorney said that there would be no charges due to insufficient credible and admissible evidence, Constand filed a civil suit in 2005. The case would be settled out-of-court for an undisclosed amount in 2006.

However, the same year, Philadelphia magazine published an article which gave graphic detail about Constand’s allegations, and the similar allegations made by other women, accusing Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them.

Despite these allegations, now very much public, it would only be after comedian Hannibal Buress’s 2014 remarks that Cosby faced any real public scrutiny or consequences. As a part of his routine, Buress chided Cosby for his moralising about young black men’s lifestyles, saying that “Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby, so that kind of brings you down a couple notches.” He then asked everyone to search ‘Bill Cosby rape’ on Google.

This sparked online discussion and outrage against the comedian, with people wondering how he had managed to retain his “America’s Dad” image despite such grave allegations. What followed was a barrage of new allegations coming up, dating all the way back to the 1960s.

In 2015, New York magazine’s cover featured images of 35 women (survivors of Cosby’s alleged sexual assault) sitting in chairs with the last chair empty, suggesting there may be more victims who have not come forward yet. Jewell Allison, one of Cosby’s accusers, stated: “We may be looking at America’s greatest serial rapist that … (who) got away with it because he was hiding behind the image of Cliff Huxtable.”

Criminal prosecution

In the wake of the allegations, numerous organisations cut ties with Bill Cosby. While most allegations fell outside the statute of limitations against criminal prosecution, Cosby was faced with multiple civil suits. In addition to that, he was criminally prosecuted for the Andrea Constand assault of 2004, for which, in 2018, he was found guilty of aggravated assault after a jury trial.

Cosby would spend the next three years in prison, until the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Cosby’s conviction, citing violations of his due process rights.

The court found that the previous district attorney had promised Cosby that he would not be charged over Constand’s accusations, in the hopes that it would persuade him to testify in a civil case brought by Constand and allow her to win damages. However, the court deemed that his subsequent testimony in the civil trial was pivotal for his 2018 conviction.

The latest lawsuit

The latest complaint comes just weeks after the state of Nevada enacted a “lookback” law, eliminating a two-year window for sexual assault victims to bring civil claims. This follows the lead of several other states such as California and New Jersey.

The Nevada lawsuit alleges that Cosby drugged each victim with drinks or pills before assaulting them, a pattern which matches many other allegations against him, including that of Constand.

Cosby faces other legal claims as well. A former Playboy model sued him this month, alleging he assaulted her in 1969. The plaintiff is taking advantage of a California law that lifted the statute of limitations on such claims.

Lili Bernard, one of the plaintiffs in Nevada, has separately sued Cosby in New Jersey for an alleged assault in 1990 under a similar law.

Last year, a California jury found that Cosby sexually assaulted teenager Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 and ordered him to pay her $500,000.

(With inputs from Reuters)