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Summary: Bill Cosby’s legal team reportedly have suggested there is racial bias in his sexual assault case.
Can Bill Cosby defeat his criminal sexual assault charges if he plays the race card? According to Fox News, the comedian once famous for lambasting poor blacks for using race as an excuse is now supposedly suggesting race is the reason for his troubles.
Fox News reports that the legal team for the 79-year-old comedian have implied that racial bias is in play with the case against him. According to Fox News, this is the first time that his lawyers have suggested this.
“Mr. Cosby is no stranger to discrimination and racial hatred, and throughout his career Mr. Cosby has always used his voice and his celebrity to highlight the commonalities and has portrayed the differences that are not negative, no matter the race, gender and religion of a person,” Cosby’s lawyer Brian McMonagle said.
Cosby is facing criminal charges in Philadelphia for the alleged 2004 sexual assault of former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand. It is reported that several other women will testify that Cosby also raped them. The comedian has repeatedly denied raping Constand and the other accusers, maintaining the sex was consensual. According to The Washington Post, his list of accusers totals to 60 women, mostly white.
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The irony of using the race card was not lost on Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson, who studies sociology and published the book “Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?”
“It is ironic that a man who has chastised the black poor for making race an excuse would now have to lean upon that as part of his defense strategy,” Dyson told Fox News.
Cosby has long chastised the black community for their problems, and he has criticized baggy pants, rap music, and fatherless homes. In 2004, he gave a speech before the NAACP that drew praise from conservatives but outrage from those who believe in systemic racism.
“These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake,” Cosby said.”Then we all run out and are outraged: ‘The cops shouldn’t have shot him.’ What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?”
Cosby’s comments about black people drew ire from comedian Hannibal Buress, who is African-American. In 2014, Buress cracked a joke that many say reignited the public’s interest in Cosby’s allegations of rape.
“And it’s even worse because Bill Cosby has the f-ing smuggest old black man public persona that I hate. Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the ’80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom. Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby…” Buress said during a set.
Because of the intense scrutiny from the media, Cosby’s legal team asked that his criminal trial be moved outside of Philadelphia, but that request was denied. Fox News stated that this request could have racial implications, although that has not been directly stated by Cosby’s team.
Cosby’s criminal trial is scheduled for June 5, 2017 in Philadelphia.
Source: Fox News
Photo courtesy of The Huffington Post
