Bill Cosby offers no answers on ‘Nightline’ interview
Bill Cosby still has nothing to say about the dozens of sexual assault allegations against him.
The embattled comedian continued dodging questions and rambling in his first interview about the accusations with ABC’s “Nightline,” hours after part of the pre-recorded sit-down aired on the network’s “Excellent Morning America” Friday.
“I can’t speak on that,” the 77-year-ancient told reporter Lindsey Davis about his treatment in the media since women started publicly accusing him in mass last year. “I just don’t want to argue. I don’t want to talk about.”
Cosby gave the interview while visiting Alabama to speak at two high schools to preach the importance of education on behalf of the Black Belt Community Foundation. He also joined a large crowd of students for a march across Selma’s iconic Edmund Pettus Bridge.
ABC NewsBill Cosby rambled and dodged answers in his first interview about the dozens of sexual assault allegations against him.
But when it came to time to talk about the allegations that have largely derailed his decades-long career, he rarely came accurate to coherence.
“I am set to tell this young person the truth about life,” he told Davis when questioned about a hypothetical young person who might question him about the accusations.
“I’m not sure that they will come like that. I think that many of them say, ‘Well, you’re a hypocrite, you say one thing, you say the additional. My point is, OK, listen to me carefully. I’m telling you where the road is out. I’m telling you, where, as you’re driving, you’re going to go into water and it looks like it might only be three inches deep. But, you and your car are going to go down. Now, do you want to go here or do you want to be concerned about who’s giving you the message?”
Cosby apparently never had to worry about any such confrontation — “Nightline” interviewed several students at the Alabama schools who wholeheartedly support him. The show also filmed him giving encouraging speeches to rooms full of rapt pupils.
Black Belt Head Felecia Lucky also defended her group’s choice to fall back on Cosby’s fame.
Cosby insisted he wants to sidestep all the rape talk and stay focused on his career.
ABC NewsABC News’ Linsey Davis pressed Bill Cosby to open up about the accusations against him, to little avail.
“I have been in this business 52 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “And reality is the situation, and I can’t speak.”
He later insisted: “I want to get back to media, television, books, the entertainment.”
More than 30 women have come forward with identical tales of Cosby allegedly drugging them and then assaulting them while they were unconscious.
He has repeatedly denied all accusations and has not faced any criminal charges, but three of the accusers have filed defamation suits against him.
One of his accusers criticized Cosby’s cryptic remarks to the Day after day News after the “Excellent Morning America” excerpt aired.
“The man was radically incoherent. He just strung together some terms that had no meaning whatsoever,” former model and actress Angela Leslie said.
Albert Cesare/APComedian Bill Cosby discussion with a Selma High School junior after speaking with students there Friday.
Albert Cesare/AP
Bill Cosby (focal point right) hikes walks over Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge as part of his tour of Alabama schools.
Albert Cesare/AP
Bill Cosby on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
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“Cosby just needs to accept that he is a guilty have fun and he needs to apologize and seek help. He’s trying to go on as if nothing happened, and people know something happened.”
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