Our View: Bill Cosby’s own words make accusations credible

There’s nothing funny about Bill Cosby. Not anymore.

Cosby was an American comic icon; someone you could trust to entertain your children. Turns out, at the very least he’s a cad. At the worst, he could be exactly what comedian Hannibal Buress called him last October – “a rapist.”

For months, women have been coming forward to accuse the nearly 78-year-old Cosby of drugging and raping them. “Unsubstantiated, fantastical stories” is what Cosby’s fans called them. Cosby seldom addressed the accusations.

Now we see his own testimony in a recently unsealed civil case, and we know the denials were but an effort to confuse and obfuscate. Cosby admits that he, in fact, drugged at least one woman and had sex with her. He also admitted to buying seven prescriptions of quaalude to give to women with whom he wanted to have sex. Consensual sex, Cosby insisted. We’re wondering how.

“I meet Ms. (redacted) in Las Vegas,” he testified in the 2005 sexual assault case. “She meets me backstage. I give her quaaludes. We then have sex.”

Quaaludes are synthetic barbiturates; a powerful sedative that can induce feelings of euphoria. They greatly impair judgment, often making a person pass out. That calls into question whether anyone using quaaludes could have given consent. If not, accusations of rape aren’t out of line.

Cosby has been a popular performer in our area. He got his start in San Francisco nightclubs, followed by records that showcased his incredible ability to tell stories. He made us all laugh. He earned our respect by helping to break prime-time TV’s color barrier in 1969, starring in “I Spy.” What followed were appearances on “Sesame Street” and “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.” Then, during eight seasons of “The Cosby Show” starting in 1984, he became America’s most-admired TV dad, Dr. Heathcliffe Huxtable.

But Cosby also holds a doctorate in education; he willingly spoke difficult truths to youth. In that role, he was the commencement speaker at California State University, Stanislaus in 1999. He returned to the Valley to do standup routines at least three times, usually to packed theaters. The last appearance was in Turlock in January. Tickets cost up to $85 and the theater sold out. Only a single person protested outside.

That’s the hard part. Despite the new evidence, despite networks yanking reruns of his shows and Disney removing his statue from one of its theme parks, many of Cosby‘s defenders haven’t given up. People still want to believe that even if Cosby engaged in extramarital sex, it was all consensual. They want to cast all the women who have come forward over the past year as trying to cash in Cosby’s fame and wealth.

Yes, people are innocent until proven guilty. But admitting to giving a woman Quaaludes then having sex with her makes those claims – and Buress’ accusation – more believable. At least it makes them more believable than Cosby’s denials.

No one is laughing at this now-elderly man or what he admits to doing. There’s nothing funny about it.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Our View: Bill Cosby’s own words make accusations credible."