Supermodel Beverly Johnson revealed, in an essay at Vanity Fairback in December of last year, Cosby had drugged her at his home in the 1980s. In a recent interview with ABC she said: “I am very happy for the women. I see that a lot of them are relieved, vindicated and validated and that’s good. Perhaps now we can start a healing process.”
Johnson had a hopeful outlook for the various victims that have spoken out on the issue. “We have a moment where there is some kind of validation in what they’ve been saying and what we’ve been saying. The truth always comes to light.”
Janice Dikenson however, had a more bitter reaction. “I have mixed emotions…all the women that have come forward…we have been called liars,” she said during a somberinterview with CNN.
Dikenson appeared emotionally disturbed from the aftermath of her alleged rape by Cosby for so long. She struggled with the reporter’s questions, often pausing before responding. “I’m very upset and I’m embarrassed for his fans that he’s deceived all of these years…I’ve been holding onto this since 1982. I do not feel vindicated.” Dikenson then subtly rebuffed Whoopi Goldberg’s comments defending Cosby, pointing out Goldberg’s role as a talk-show host.
More institutions have pulled their support of Cosby in the wake of the admission going public. Disney has announced that it is taking down its bust of the comedian from the Walt Disney Hollywood Studios. A relative of one of the victims petitioned for the bust to come down for the past seven months; 250 supporters signed her call to action. One of D.C.’s hot spots and most beloved franchises, Ben’s Chili Bowl, appears to be downplaying its historic ties to Cosby. Even worse, Centric, the BET-owned network and Bounce TV, an Atlanta-based network, are pulling old episodes of “Cosby” and “The Cosby Show.” These two television networks are following in the footsteps of other companies like Netflix, TV Land and NBC that first pulled the comedian’s programming when news of the rape allegations first started picking up media attention.
As usual, Camille Cosby, Cosby’s wife, has refrained from making any public statements since the news broke. Mrs. Cosby has long held the position as the quiet, supportive spouse. The one exception so far was when she spoke on behalf of her husband through penning a public statement dismissing the alleged victims’ claims and comparing Cosby’s plight to the controversy surrounding the UVA/Rolling Stone rape scandal.
The former DA on Cosby’s 2005 lawsuit openly spoke about why he didn’t bring an assault charge against Cosby in the previous case. In an interview with a Philadelphia syndicate of CBS, then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said that he believed Cosby was guilty, but didn’t charge him due to a lack of sufficient, credible and admissible evidence. He then went on to explain that Cosby had his Fifth Amendment taken away in the following civil suit because he was freed of the assault charge. As a result, that would have made it easier for the victim to be awarded damages. Castor says that if elected district attorney again, he and his team could scrub through the court documents for any inconsistencies and charge Cosby with perjury.
Stay tuned at HelloBeautiful.com for more updates on the Cosby case.
