Bill Cosby no longer has Whoopi Goldberg on his side. The View’s co-host got a better understanding of the rape allegations against the comedian from ABC’s Chief Legal Affairs anchor, Dan Abrams, during a segment on the daytime talk show on Tuesday, July 14, and admitted she could no longer stand by Cosby, 77, which she had done since numerous women started speaking out.
The allegations against the former Cosby Show star date back to as early as the 1970s. Last week, the Associated Press obtained part of the testimony from his 2005 civil suit brought on by an accuser. The documents revealed that Cosby admitted to obtaining quaaludes and other sedatives to give to young women he wanted to have sex with. He later settled with undisclosed terms. His lawyers have continued to deny the allegations against him.
Goldberg, 59, explained that she had thought that if the allegations were true, Cosby would already be in jail regardless of when the women claim their assaults happened. But Abrams pointed out that there is a statute of limitations on rape cases. “As a practical matter, the remedy against Bill Cosby is the court of public opinion,” he noted.
“What we’ve learned here is there’s no recourse for these women except what they’re doing,” Goldberg reiterated. “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.”
But she didn’t stop there. “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 declared. “I have to say, I thought that, ‘Yeah, here’s all the information, take his ass to jail!’ I find out from you that that’s not possible, so I can’t say anymore, ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ Can’t say that anymore.”
With so many women leveling allegations against “America’s dad,” Abrams, 49, noted that if Cosby wants to defend himself, he can always tell his side of the story. But the legal analyst cautioned, “Anything he says can and will be used against him.”
“It looks bad, Bill,” Goldberg said, addressing the comedian through the camera. “Either speak up or shut up, because people know now that there’s a lot more out there than they thought.”
