One of comedian Bill Cosby’s rape accusers came out against his claim that he is the victim of a racist justice system.
On Tuesday, Nov. 1, Cosby and his legal team arrived in a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania court to hear arguments. The pretrial hearing centers on 2004 rape allegations brought forth by Andrea Constand. She was the former director of operations for the women’s basketball team at Philadelphia’s Temple University, Cosby’s alma mater.
According to ABC News, the comedian allegedly gave Constand pills that caused her to feel dizzy, weak and inebriated. Subsequently, the 79-year-old reportedly sexually assaulted the woman at his Philadelphia estate in 2004. However, Constand did not report the incident until mid-January 2005.
Now, the legal team has come out stating that Cosby is blind and that there is blatant racism in the case.
“We cannot ignore the unfortunate role that racial bias still plays in our criminal justice system,” the attorneys wrote in their motion to dismiss.
In a recent NBC “TODAY” profile, another Cosby accuser, Lili Bernard talks about her experience with Cosby. Even though she is of Cuban descent, the California-based artist identifies as Black. During an appearance on the last season of the “The Cosby Show,” Bernard claims the famed comedian drugged and raped her.
“What about us Black women whom he sexually violated,” she asks rhetorically. “We’re talking about a man who serially raped at least 60 women and that’s where the focus must be. Race has nothing to do with it … He is paralleling my holding him accountable for his drugging and raping me. And the other 60 of us holding him accountable for drugging and raping us … to his being a victim of racism, to him being a victim of a modern-day lynching.”
Bernard adds that his claims of racism takes away from the struggle and pain of “real” civil rights leaders.
“What that does is it denigrates the souls of the real heroes of the civil rights movement.”
