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Camille Cosby Compares Rape Allegations Against Her Husband To Rolling Stone's UVA Article
Bill Cosby and his wife Camille Cosby speak onstage at the Apollo Theater 75th Anniversary Gala at The Apollo Theater on June 8, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
Camille Cosby has broken her silence about the more than dozen or so women who have stepped forward to say that Bill Cosby drugged and raped them. She has released a carefully crafted statement to the media, saying that the comedian lives up to the image he created during his sitcom heyday in the 1980s: "He is the man you thought you knew."
She says that the accusations against her husband are not being properly vetted by media outlets, and she compares the rapidly snowballing allegations to Rolling Stone's botched cover story on rape culture at UVA. It might not be the strongest point to make. That Rolling Stone didn't do its journalistic due diligence is plainly obvious. However, it seems like apples and oranges comparing the poorly-reported story of one anonymous victim to many, many stories from high-profile women who put their names on their stories, including Beverly Johnson, Janice Dickinson and a well-off grandmother in her 70s with very little to gain and much to lose by speaking out. She ends her statement by casting her husband in the role of the true victim:
I met my husband, Bill Cosby, in 1963, and we were married in 1964. The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you all knew through his work. He is a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father and friend. He is the man you thought you knew. A different man has been portrayed in the media over the last two months. It is the portrait of a man I do not know. It is also a portrait painted by individuals and organizations whom many in the media have given a pass. There appears to be no vetting of my husband’s accusers before stories are published or aired. An accusation is published, and immediately goes viral.
We all followed the story of the article in “Rolling Stone” concerning allegations of rape at the University of Virginia. The story was heart-breaking, but ultimately appears to be proved to be untrue. Many in the media were quick to link that story to stories about my husband — until that story unwound.
None of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim. But the question should be asked — who is the victim?
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