Bill Cosby has expressed that he would like to return to performing comedy live, despite continuing allegations and controversy surrounding his past. The legendary comedian and actor was convicted of sexual assault against a woman in 2018, sentenced to three to 10 years, then released from prison by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court who cited violations of his due process rights in 2021. He was the host of Scott Spears on WGH Talk radio show, and mentioned about his plans for comedy tours.
When asked if he considered returning to the stand-up comedy stage, “Yes, because there’s so much fun to be had in this storytelling that I do” Cosby replied. “When I come out of this, I feel that I will be able to perform and be the Bill Cosby that my audience knows me to be.”
Cosby’s revelation in this radio program came a couple of weeks after five more women filed a sexual assault against him. Two of the women being his colleagues from The Cosby Show, the lawsuit was filed under a new New York law, the Adult Survivors Act, which allows victims to sue abusers even if the statute of limitations on their claims had already run out. “Each plaintiff was sexually assaulted and battered by defendant Bill Cosby in the same or similar manner when he used his power, fame, and prestige, including the power, fame and prestige given to him,” the complaint says.
According to Andrew Wyatt, Cosby’s publicist, who talked to NPR, the comedy tour is set for “roughly around spring, summer or late summer” of 2023.
Stating that he is in “high demand”, Wyatt defends they have hundreds of thousands of supporters just asking for Cosby to do a show. “We have so many promoters across the country. He is in high demand,” he said.
The controversial comedian’s new year intentions aside, more than 50 women have accused him of either raping them or forcing them into sexual acts up to the present, with first similar allegations against him came to light in 2014, four years before the #metoo movement, when 11 women made accusations of alleged assaults by Cosby committed against them between 1965 and 2004. Cosby has denied the allegations.
Wyatt, on the other hand, does not think the pending lawsuit (filed by five more women under the Adult Survivors Act) will affect Cosby’s planned tour. “People have looked at the allegations, they’ve looked at the information, and it’s a money grab,” he told NPR.