Just when you'd started to forget about the horrible allegations against Bill Cosby, they're back in the headlines, and more awful than ever.
Another woman — who is going by just her first name, Patricia — has come forward with claims against the disgraced comedian. What she alleges happened back in 1978 is just plain weird, in addition to being super-disturbing.
In an extensive interview with BuzzFeed News, Patricia recalls going to Cosby's Massachusetts home, ostensibly for dinner. When she arrived, she was taken aback to find herself sitting down with Cosby alone — his wife was nowhere in sight (Patricia, then 22, hadn't imagined it being a date-y situation).
She tells BuzzFeed she accepted when Cosby offered her a drink, though she says "alarm bells" were going off by then because it felt so "intimate." Those bells were ringing even louder when Cosby asked her to perform improvised acting routines like pretending she was "an elegant queen with oatmeal dripping all over her face." In a later incident in 1980, BuzzFeed reports he allegedly "demanded that Patricia style her hair like Queen Noor of Jordan."
Soon after the improvisation game, Patricia tells BuzzFeed she passed out from the drink; she doesn't remember anything beyond waking up naked to find him looming over her in that ubiquitous robe. She says Cosby claimed to have put her dress in the wash because she'd thrown up on it.
Patricia accepted his story at first, especially because back then, "Powerful men were not challenged by women. I didn't think anyone would believe me." He had also promised to mentor her in her burgeoning acting career, which he did.
Of course, Patricia's claims about what happened that night are eerily reminiscent of almost everyone else who's spoken out against Cosby. She's just the latest woman (there are now 30-plus) to accuse Cosby of assaulting them over the years. The flood of allegations began back in 2005 when Andrea Constand filed a civil suit against the now 77-year-old for drugging and raping her. (Constand did initially report it to her local police department, but criminal charges weren't filed.)
Though Cosby's career has taken a hit, he insists he's "far from finished," and he's still booking comedy shows across the country. Not everyone believes the claims against him; his wife has defended him, as have celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg and Jill Scott. But, when other stars including Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson came forward with their stories, more and more people began taking notice.
It's a disturbing thing when victim after victim comes forward to accuse the same man of the same crime. It's also disturbing when those claims begin to fade from the spotlight because of the ever-fickle news cycle.
Though we hate that there are yet more allegations being added to the growing anti-Cosby mix, at least it's bringing the case back into the public view — and will, we hope, encourage more sexual assault survivors to speak out. [BuzzFeed News]
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