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Obama declined to comment on the specific allegations against
Cosby, who has been accused by a series of women of raping them
after giving them a drug.
"I'll say this: if you give a woman, or a man for that matter,
without his or her knowledge a drug and then have sex with that
person without consent, that's rape," Obama told a White House
news conference.
He added that "any civilized country should have no tolerance
for rape."
Cosby, who turned 78 this week, has never been criminally
charged, and most of the allegations exceed the statute of
limitations. His attorneys have denied the accusations.
Cosby testified in 2005 that he had obtained Quaaludes with the
intent of giving the sedatives to young women in order to have
sex with them, according to court documents unsealed last week.
The unsealing of that deposition came after more than 40 women
alleged in the last nine months that Cosby sexually assaulted
them in incidents dating back decades.
The career of the pioneering black comedian - best known for
playing lovable father figure Dr. Cliff Huxtable on the hit TV
comedy series "The Cosby Show" - is in tatters.
NBC and Netflix scrapped plans for a television sitcom and
comedy special, while several shows on his comedy tour were
canceled. He also stepped down from the board of trustees at
Temple University, his alma mater.
A national sexual-assault prevention group called PAVE has
gathered some 10,700 signatures asking the White House to revoke
Cosby's medal, awarded in 2002.
"With respect to the Medal of Freedom, there's no precedent for
revoking a medal. We don't have that mechanism," Obama told
reporters. "And, as you know, I tend to make it a policy not to
comment on the specifics of cases where there might still be, if
not criminal, then civil issues involved."
Obama last year launched the campaign "It's On Us" to fight
sexual assault on college campuses. Asked by Univision to
comment on the rape allegations against Cosby last December,
Obama avoided mentioning the comedian and said "it's important
not to focus on one case."
(Reporting by Will Dunham and Mary Milliken; Editing by Sandra
Maler and Mohammad Zargham)
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