Cosby
says he has no plans for 'sexual assault tour'
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[June 28, 2017]
By Dana Feldman and Joseph Ax
LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK
(Reuters) - Bill Cosby said on Tuesday he has no plans
to hold town hall events to discuss sexual assault, days
after his spokesman suggested the comedian planned a
series of public talks to educate men about how to avoid
false accusations.
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Cosby's spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, first put
forward the idea for the town hall talks in an interview with a
Birmingham, Alabama, TV station last week, five days after
Cosby's sex assault trial ended in a hung jury.
The proposal drew immediate criticism from a lawyer representing
some of the dozens of women who have leveled sex assault
accusations at the 79-year-old entertainer, whose long career
was built on a family-friendly style of comedy.
"The current propaganda that I am going to conduct a sexual
assault tour is false," Cosby said in a statement released by
Wyatt on Tuesday. "Any further information about public plans
will be given at the appropriate time."
Wyatt said in the TV interview last week that Cosby, once known
as "America's dad" for his starring role in the 1980s TV hit
"The Cosby Show," planned to give free public appearances to
address the dangers that young men face.
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On Tuesday, Wyatt said his comments were taken out of context
and that Cosby was still sifting through speaking invitations
from civic organizations and church groups.
After a Los Angeles court hearing related to a civil lawsuit by
a woman who has accused the comedian of sexual assault, Cosby
attorney Angela Agrusa told reporters there was a "lot of
miscommunication" about planned public appearances.
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Cosby, she said, wants to perform again but is unlikely to do so
until all criminal charges are resolved. "He doesn't take lightly
the charges against him," she added.
Prosecutors in Pennsylvania plan to retry Cosby on charges that he
sexually assaulted Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia-area home in
2004.
Some 60 women have accused him of sex assault in a string of alleged
incidents dating back to the 1960s. The Pennsylvania case is the
only one to result in criminal prosecution.
Ten women are pursuing either sexual abuse or defamation lawsuits
against Cosby.
Two cases are headed for back-to-back trials in California next
summer. A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday set July 30, 2018, as the
trial date for a lawsuit brought by Judy Huth, who says Cosby gave
her alcohol and then sexually abused her at the Playboy mansion
around 1974 when she was 15.
Another lawsuit, filed by former model Chloe Goins, is scheduled for
trial in June 2018.
(Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler)
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