Bill Cosby briefly breaks his silence on rape allegations

Bill Cosby has faced rape allegations for years, but over the past four weeks, women from Cosby’s past have come forward claiming he drugged and sexually assaulted them. But the comedian hasn’t issued any sort of comments to these claims, until now.

Back in November, Scott Simon, the host of Weekend Edition Saturday on National Public Radio, did his level best to get a statement from Cosby, but to his dismay, the comedian kept mum about the issue.

Recently, Cosby finally commented on the existence of the allegations to Stacy Brown of The New York Post.

“Let me say this. I only expect the black media to uphold the standards of excellence in journalism and when you do that you have to go in with a neutral mind,” Cosby told the publication.

Cosby, 77, has stayed silent in light of the more than two dozen women who have come forward to accuse him of having drugged and raped them. The alleged incidents go as far back as the 1960s. He has not been charged with a crime, and the allegations have been denied and said to be discredited and defamatory by his lawyers.

In the interview, Cosby also addressed how his wife of more than 50 years, Camille Cosby, was reacting to the scandal.

“Love and the strength of womanhood. Let me say it again, love and the strength of womanhood. And, you could reverse it, the strength of womanhood and love.”

He then abruptly cut short the interview saying “they don’t want me talking to the media”.

In the latest claim, supermodel Beverly Johnson said Cosby drugged her in the 1980s during a “Cosby Show” audition. She said she was able to get away without being raped. Unlike other women who have come forward, the model does not make explicit sexual assault accusations against Cosby.

Most allegations against Cosby fall outside the statute of limitations for criminal charges.

But one woman, Judy Huth, has filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Cosby claiming he molested her when she was 15 years old, in 1974.

Meanwhile, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) powerhouse Spelman College, which received a $20 million gift from Cosby in the 1980s, has now suspended The Cosby Chair for the Humanities indefinitely until the score of rape allegations get resolved.

The all-female school confirmed the decision late Sunday through a spokeswoman for the college, Audrey Arthur.

“The William and Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Endowed Professorship was established to bring positive attention and accomplished visiting scholars to Spelman College in order to enhance our intellectual, cultural and creative life,” the school spokeswoman said.

“The current context prevents us from continuing to meet these objectives fully. Consequently, we will suspend the program until such time that the original goals can again be met.”

She said officials at the 133-year-old school would not comment any further.

The Spelman decision follows Cosby’s resignation after 32 years as a member of the board of trustees at Temple University and his resignation as an honorary co-chair of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s capital campaign. Cosby got his master’s and doctorate in education from the university in the 1970s.

High Point University in North Carolina also removed him from its national board of advisers, and the Berklee School of Music stopped granting a scholarship in his name.

Best-selling novelist, playwright and former Cosby Chair, Pearl Cleage said the suspension was the right move.

“In light of the current accusations against Mr. Cosby, it’s appropriate to suspend the chair while the college reevaluates the relationship with Mr. Cosby, moving forward,” said Cleage, a Spelman alumna.

In 1987, the Cosbys, whose daughters attended Spelman, gave the single largest donation ever awarded to a historically black college.

The highly prestigious chair, which along with Cleage, has been held by the likes of Tananarive Due, awards professorships in the fine arts, humanities, and the social sciences. Along with the endowed chair, the donation also helped pay for the construction of the gleaming Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center, which houses the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the college archives and offices.

The gift from Cosby came at the peak of his career as an entertainer and philanthropist. At the time of donation, he was starring in the “Cosby Show,” and had developed the groundbreaking, “A Different World,” which for the first time in television history focused solely on a historically black college.

The show has even been credited with increasing interest and enrollment at HBCUs, including Spelman, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University.