CNN’s Don Lemon took it upon himself Tuesday night to explain how a woman who accused actor Bill Cosby of rape could have avoided the situation — explicitly, that she should have used her teeth as a weapon.
Lemon sat down Tuesday night with Joan Tarshis, a former actress who said this week that Cosby raped her in 1969. The two had this extremely awkward exchange:
LEMON: Can I ask you this, and please, I don’t mean to be crude, OK?
TARSHIS: Yeah.
LEMON: Because I know some of you, and you said this last night, that he — you lied to him and said “I have an infection, and if you rape me, or if you have intercourse with me, then you will probably get it and give it to your wife.”
TARSHIS: Right.
LEMON: And you said he made you perform oral sex.
TARSHIS: Right.
LEMON: You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn’t want to do it.
TARSHIS: Oh. I was kind of stoned at the time, and quite honestly, that didn’t even enter my mind. Now I wish it would have.
LEMON: Meaning the using of the teeth, right?
TARSHIS: Mmhmm. Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking you’re —
LEMON: As a weapon.
TARSHIS: Yeah, I didn’t even think of it.
LEMON: Biting.
TARSHIS: Ouch.
LEMON: I had to ask.
TARSHIS: No, it didn’t cross my mind.
Watch below via Media Matters:
