Nationwide — After months of keeping mostly quiet, actor, comedian, and philanthropist Bill Cosby speaking out through his new attorney and public spokeswoman, Monique Pressley. Not only is she making her rounds on various news programs, but she is also outright rejecting all the accusations from women who have accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them.
Pressley told USA Today: “My primary focus is to try to ensure that the reporting by the media is paying attention to the facts. I am the highlighter, pointing to these facts: There has been no charge of criminal conduct, no conviction and no admission of criminal conduct by Mr Cosby.”
She added, “[The media] have picked out things they wanted to be seen and heard, and then they shut down (access to the deposition) and that’s not balanced… You have the right to deny and defend yourself, and by saying that something did not happen or denying it does not mean you are calling someone a liar.”
Regarding the accusations
Pressley says these encounters date back many years ago to a time when the sedative quaaludes was “common in social settings”.
She comments, “Nothing Cosby did then was coercive. Critics who point to this behavior as damaging to his standing as a conservative public moralist are forgetting that people can change.”
She also added that “offering a substance in a consensual relationship… is not a crime… it’s not even news,” and that Cosby denies ever giving any substance to any woman without her consent and knowledge.
On Bill Cosby being a hypocrite
Pressley says, “It doesn’t mean that 40 years later he can’t offer words of wisdom about ways to do things and not do things. You can label him a hypocrite if you wan,t but don’t label him a serial rapist because you find him hypocritical.”
On being a Black woman on this case
Pressley says she is already being heavily criticized for taking Cosby’s case.
People are saying everything from: “Bravo!” to “Way to go” to “You’re getting money from a serial rapist,” and “Shame on you”. One tweet even said, “How can a black woman represent Bill Cosby?”
But Pressley says it doesn’t matter because “I believe in the work I am doing.”
Learn more about Monique Pressley at www.moniquepressley.com
Watch her recent interview on CNN:
