Bill Cosby tells Michael Smerconish he will not testify at rape trial against him

Bill Cosby, the 79-year-old comedy legend whose iconic status has been shattered by revelations and allegations of sexual assault and rape, told SiriusXM radio host Michael Smerconish that he would not testify at the upcoming trial against him.

Cosby explained: “When you have to deal with examination, cross-examination, etc. etc., there are more than two sides to every story. Sometimes it’s four or five. And what people want to say, and want you to say and how they maneuver, and yes, I do have lawyers to protect me. Objection! Sustained. But I just don’t want — I just don’t want to sit there and have to figure out what I believe is a truthful answer, as to whether or not I’m opening a can of something that my lawyers are scrambling.”

So Smerconish asked: “What do you say to the person who puts credence to the charges against you because of the number of women who have come out and said the similar thing?”

Cosby’s reply:  “I think that the numbers came because the numbers prior to the numbers didn’t work. So the piling on, so to speak, is a way, and certainly an impressive way, to get public opinion to come to the other side.”

Are they all lying?

“You know better than that,” Cosby told Smerconish?

You won’t or can’t answer?

“I won’t, and I cannot answer that. It’s really not fair and you know that, because all I have to do is say something similar to that, and the next thing I know, the postman is carrying a big bag. Or whoever it is is saying, ‘defamation, defamation, defamation.’”

Cosby said he accepted Smerconish’s interview because “I decided I think it’s time for me to do something so that the people who still have faith in me, the people who are still wondering what I sound like as opposed to the National Enquirer, which is very interesting reading when they write about me.”

Cosby continued later, adding of his legacy: “I want people to understand that the, my work as an artist, a performer, I owe a great deal to people who saw things in me, and in many ways, in many ways, I returned the favors, and Gloria Steinem had a very interesting quote. She said the truth shall set you free but first it might piss you off. And I’ve said a lot of things to people, trying to give them the truth, trying to motivate them and move them in a direction away from apathy sometimes, sometimes away from fear, sometimes to guide them into strength and a belief in what they fear about themselves, and I’ve taken some hits from people who are supposed to be watching out for people like this. And I do feel that right now, right now as I speak to you, I want to get back to the last (unclear), enjoyment of things that I’ve written and things that I’ve perform on stage, and then I want to take other things and move it to halls, churches, etc. to give what I feel will be motivational, and informational and drive people to make changes in themselves, the home life, because the one quote that I sustained is the revolution is in the home.”

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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