A black conservative group on Thursday called women accusing Bill Cosby of rape “opportunistic,” in a statement condemning the federal judge who released documents showing the comedian had admitted to using drugs for sexual assault.
“Without commenting on the allegations against Dr. Cosby, or the credibility of the accusers, based on the fact that none of the accusers, seen on the variety of news and talk shows, saw fit to push for criminal charges when the events occurred, tells me that they made a personal and calculated decision to live with whatever transpired,” said the founder of Project 21, Archbishop Council Nedd II in a statement.
“To me it seems opportunistic to seek media headlines now,” he added.
The statement also condemned the district judge’s justfication for revealing that Cosby admitted in a 2005 deposition to obtaining Quaaludes to assault women, which cited the “stark contrast” between Cosby’s actions and his role as a public moralist.
“Americans should be free to express themselves without fearing that their views will be used later to justify breaching confidential documents in what resembles political score settling by federal judges,” Nedd wrote.
On its website, Project 21 describes its mission to “promote the views of African-Americans whose entrepreneurial spirit, dedication to family and commitment to individual responsibility has not traditionally been echoed by the nation’s civil rights establishment.”
Cosby came under scrutiny over the longstanding accusations last October, which led his talent agency to drop him as more women came forward. Netflix and NBC also scrubbed Cosby projects in the pipeline, while Disney recently removed a statue of the comic from its Orlando theme park.
