A few days after a judge declared a mistrial in the sexual assault case against actor and comedian, Bill Cosby, he announced he would be educating young men and woman in July on being charged with sexual misconduct. He would be holding town hall meetings to discuss how to avoid sexual violence accusations.
His representative, Andrew Wratt, while making the announcement on a local news show in Alabama said “…this issue can affect any young person, especially young athletes of today and they need to know what they are facing when they are hanging out and partying.” Another representative, Ebonee Benson made similar comments.
Bill who has over sixty accusations of sexual misconduct hanging over his head was declared a free man after the mistrial was granted in his case last Saturday in Cosby’s only criminal case. The complainant, Andrea Constand accused Cosby of drugging and molesting her in his mansion in Pennsylvania in 2004. The actor was charged early enough to beat the statute of limitation which is what has substantially prevented his other accusers of bring suit against him. He was charged with three counts of sexual assault which if convicted could have earned him up to 30 years behind bars. The judge had to declare a mistrial as the jury was said to be “hopelessly deadlocked”.
While reacting to the news, Vice President of Rainn, an anti-sexual violence group advised Bill Cosby to focus his attention on advising young people on commenting sexual assault in the place of helping after the fact.
It is unclear what Mr Cosby intentions are in holding these town hall meetings. He could be trying to genuinely repair his severely damaged public image or it could all be a publicity stunt. Either way it is clear that the jury is still out on how history would remember Cosby whether as a talented comedian or as a disgraced serial sexual assault perpetrator.
