Bill Cosby got a couple of economy-sized lumps of coal on Sunday. Both the New York Post and The New York Times reported that Cosby has launched an ugly and nakedly aggressive effort to discredit the women who have come forward to claim that he raped and sexually assaulted them.
The Post reported that Cosby and his lawyer, Martin Singer, have retained several private investigators to dig up dirt on Janice Dickinson, Beverly Johnson, and the other women who have spoken up so far–and “anything negative in their pasts is fair game.” According to one source, who has been close to Cosby for a decade, the detectives thought it was “strange” that Johnson never told her longtime live-in boyfriend about her claim that Cosby spiked her cappuccino. Although Cosby or his attorneys aren’t commenting on it, Think Progress notes that this tactic is very similar to Cosby’s other responses since the scandal flared anew in November.
For instance, The Times reports that in 2005, attorney Tamara Green claimed Cosby assaulted her in the 1970s. In response, his aides offered to sell potentially “damaging information” about her to the press. Singer has also written angry letters to several media outlets accusing them of lynching Cosby, and even threatened to sue Buzzfeed for defamation when word got out it was publishing Dickinson’s accusations. According to The Times, Cosby’s team has questioned why the accusers have taken so long to come forward. However, The Times believes one possible explanation is fear that they would face the kind of ham-handed response that Cosby has mounted so far.
Perhaps the most baffling discovery The Times made, however, concerns an interview Dan Rather did with Cosby in 1997, soon after the murder of his son, Ennis. At the time, Cosby was reeling under extortion threats from Autumn Jackson, a woman who claimed to be the product of an affair between Cosby and her mother. Jackson had threatened to go public with her claims unless Cosby paid her $40 million. When Rather asked about the extortion, Cosby admitted the affair. The interview was due to air on “60 Minutes.” However, shortly after CBS started teasing Rather’s piece on “CBS This Morning” and the “CBS Evening News,” Cosby’s agent called CBS to complain that the interview was a hatchet job. Eventually, CBS opted not to air the interview. While network officials said that it was pulled for journalistic reasons, it’s hard to believe that pressure from Cosby didn’t play a role.
Cosby has every right to defend himself from these allegations. However, there is no way you can defend this strategy. Threatening to sell damaging information to the press? Digging for any potential dirt on your accusers? The fact that many of these accusers are private people makes it even more outrageous. When my now-ex falsely accused me of making a girl watch X-rated movies, I never even considered trying to mine for dirt on her. It would have only lowered me to her level. That’s why finding out she had hidden her past as a child abuser hit me like a ton of bricks.
Not only that, but this kind of response has the potential to backfire, and backfire severely. That backfire may happen sooner than later. Green came forward once again soon after more women came forward earlier this fall. When Cosby’s team responded that Green’s claim was “nothing at the time, and was still nothing,” Green sued Cosby for defamation.
I grew up admiring Cosby. I considered him a role model, as did most black men of my generation. But this victim-blaming campaign has caused me to lose most of the respect I had for him. There’s no way that this ends well for him, regardless of how this story turns out. If it does turn out that these women are telling the truth, it will only look like he’s violating them all over again. And even if he’s completely exonerated, something about mounting this kind of effort against private people should leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth.
Let us know your thoughts at the Liberal America Facebook page. Sign up for our free daily newsletter to receive more great stories like this one.
Darrell Lucus, also known as Christian Dem in NC on Daily Kos, is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
