Whoa. President Barack Obama weighed in on the ongoing rape allegations against Bill Cosby during a press conference on Wednesday, July 15, in the context of revoking the embattled comedian's Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"There's no precedent for revoking a medal," the leader of the free world told reporters. "We don't have that mechanism."
Without directly addressing the ongoing allegations pertaining to Cosby himself, the President did, however, say he had a no-tolerance policy for rape.
"If you give a woman, or a man for that matter, without his or her knowledge a drug," he shared, "and then have sex with that person without consent? That's rape."
The father of two teens added: "I think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape."
President Obama's surprising statements were made just one day after former Cosby advocate and pal Whoopi Goldberg swapped her stance on defending the beleaguered Cosby Show star.
"What we’ve learned here is there’s no recourse for these women except what they’re doing,” Goldberg said on The View while speaking with ABC's Chief Legal Affairs anchor Dan Abrams. "If this is to be tried in the court of public opinion, I gotta say, all of the information that’s out there kinda points to guilt…. If people don’t know that there’s no way for him to go to jail at this point … you got a serial rapist, he’s been on the street for 30 years."
Goldberg then directly addressed Cosby. "It looks bad, Bill," she said on the show. "Either speak up or shut up, because people know now that there’s a lot more out there than they thought."
Since the scandal came back to light after Hannibal Buress’ stand-up routine last fall, more than 30 women have come forward to accuse the comic of sexual assault. The list of victims include '80s supermodels Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson. Meanwhile, Cosby has maintained his innocence in various instances.
