Glenn Beck isn’t too happy that the Associated Press released an interview in which one of its reporters asked Bill Cosby about allegations that he raped a woman several years ago. How outraged was he? He thinks the AP essentially raped Cosby when it asked about the allegations.
On November 6, AP reporter Brett Zongker interviewed Cosby and his wife, Camille, about their recent donations to a Smithsonian art exhibit. However, when Zongker started to ask him about the rape allegations, Cosby didn’t even let him finish asking the question before he curtly said, “No, no, we don’t answer that.” Zongker tried to ask the question two more times, and Cosby rebuffed him each time. Just as the interview ended, Cosby–with his mic still on–demanded that Zongker promise that none of the footage of him refusing to answer questions about the allegations be shown. Zongker refused, instead promising only to relay Cosby’s concerns to his bosses.
The AP initially held off on releasing the video, but opted to release it on Wednesday night when it was apparent the allegations against Cosby weren’t going to die. Watch the whole thing here. When Beck got wind of it, he hit the ceiling on Thursday’s show.? To his mind, the AP’s release of the interview is an example of what happens “when you say, ‘I’m not going to tether yourself to any principles whatsoever.'” To his mind, the media was trying to “tear everything down that we believe in” by creating a vacuum and not replacing it with anything. He claimed the AP had engaged in “media rape” by supposedly going back on its word not to release the video. “Since when does your ‘no’ mean ‘yes’?” Beck fumed. “You’ve just raped Bill Cosby.”
There’s just one problem with Beck’s claim–it isn’t true. As mentioned above, Zongker made no such promise. The AP itself confirmed this, when it said that it neither made any agreement to stay away from the allegations, nor did it promise to “withhold publishing of his comments at any time.” Cosby himself said that he didn’t initially make questions about the allegations off-limits because he thought “AP had the integrity not to ask” about them. Even without that to consider, Beck really didn’t have to condemn the AP’s actions by calling them “media rape.” But as we all know, having a sense of proportion is way too much to ask from Beck.
If you’ll recall, Beck is facing a lawsuit from an Arab student for falsely claiming that student partly financed the Boston Marathon bombing. Even worse, Beck kept it up even when a guest on his own show told him that claim was baloney. Rather than apologize, Beck is trying to have the suit thrown out because the student is a public figure. And yet he’s accusing the AP of lacking integrity? Pot, meet kettle.
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Darrell Lucus, also known as Christian Dem in NC on Daily Kos, is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
