Last week, I mentioned that Bill Cosby has mounted a ham-handed effort to discredit the women who have come forward to claim that he sexually assaulted them several years ago. Cosby has retained several private detectives to mine for anything potentially negative in the accusers’ pasts. Even if Cosby is exonerated, this tactic could potentially explode in his face–especially considering that many of his accusers are private people. While he has every right to defend himself, many of the tactics he has used–such as offering to sell negative information about one accuser–cross a line.
Well, that day of reckoning may be coming sooner than we think. In December, one of the accusers, Tamara Green sued Cosby for defamation. Green first told her story in 2005, and Cosby’s aides responded by offering “damaging information” about her to the press. She came forward again when the story flared anew in November, prompting Cosby’s people to say her story was “nothing at the time, and is still nothing”–prompting the lawsuit. Late yesterday, two of Cosby’s other accusers added their names to Green’s suit. In November, Therese Serignese claimed that in the late 1970s, Cosby drugged her before assaulting her. Later that month, Linda Traitz also said she was drugged and assaulted by Cosby in the 1970s.
While the statute of limitations has run out on all three women’s claims, they contend that Cosby, his attorneys, and his publicists should be held to account for calling them liars. Green said that when she told her story on the “Today” show in 2005, she was the target of defamatory statements from Cosby’s publicist, David Brokaw, and his lawyer at the time, Walter M. Philips, Jr. Serignese and Traitz contend that when they separately came forward, Cosby’s current lawyer, Martin Singer, issued responses on Cosby’s behalf saying that they were lying.
Reached for comment, Singer said that Cosby intends to pursue his own claims against the lawyers who filed this suit. However, I have to think there’s one very big reason to settle. Chances are that the women’s lawyers are going to want to know about the campaign Cosby has mounted to discredit his accusers. Does Cosby really want those details to get out in open court? Remember, folks, while Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson are the highest-profile accusers so far, most of the targets of this campaign are private people. If Cosby thought that this effort would make his accusers retract their claims, this suit is as strong an indication as any that they aren’t backing down.
Cosby apparently hasn’t been paying attention to the news in the last few years. Remember, Rush Limbaugh is hanging on for dear life because he decided to slime someone who was a private person at the time.? Even if Cosby manages to weather this scandal, in what world is it acceptable to not only actively mine for negative information on a private person, but sell said information to the press? You can mount a pretty sturdy defense without going to such ugly lengths. I say this as someone who was falsely accused myself. My ex-wife falsely accused me of making a girl watch X-rated movies–and yet, I never even once thought of mining for dirt on her. It would have been wrong, period.
There’s no way you can defend this campaign, even if you side with Cosby. It’s why I believe that even if Cosby is completely exonerated, his reputation may never recover. The only thing that comes as a surprise is that the bill may be coming due far sooner than I expected.
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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.
