A few days ago, a spoof website published an article claiming that the former child star, whose career began on The Cosby Show, had “filed molestation charges” against Cosby.
[READ: New Doo’ Alert! Raven-Symone Goes ‘PEACH’ For The Holidays… (PHOTOS)]
According to the fraudulent site, Symone “revealed to the TMZ offices” that she was “raped and drugged years ago following the shows last episode.” The article even included quotes attributed to the purported lawyer of Raven Symone:
…we among so many others are tired of the media worshipping and praising a man that has a past so terrible that it is unbelievable. My client (Raven-Symone) is also ready to tell her side of the story. A side that was kept quiet because of threats from being blackballed. There was no monetary compensation that made my client keep quiet, but more so the respect for Mr. Cosby. Well that respect has come to an end. And what we thought was a mistake or anomaly has surfaced to become a lifestyle. We will be pursuing damages that are not going to be disclosed at this time.
For the record… the Raven-Symone story is totally FAKE… however there IS another person that’s been added to the list. Janice Dickinson!
First of all, Symone was six when The Cosby Show’s season finale aired in 1992, making the article’s claim particularly unsettling and secondly, the site is merely using the recent controversial rape accusations against Cosby generate viral traffic… and it worked.
The site that posted the rumor (which I refuse to name) is one of an increasing number of spoof news sites, but many often are fooled by headlines that are relevant to current hot topics.
Often there’s a disclaimer posted somewhere on the site in fine print stating xyz site “is a Gossip parody and satirical publication and for entertainment purposes only,” but many fail to to look past the explosive headlines.
Whatever the case, while it’s NOT TRUE that Raven-Symone is in the mix of accusers.
**Update** Raven-Symone hit the net to personally deny the rumors, stating:
In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dickinson reveals that she too was a victim of Cosby’s raping spree, stating that he assaulted her in the early 80’s.
Dickinson, now 59, recalls first meeting Cosby, now 77, when her agent set up a meeting with him to hire her for a role on The Cosby Show. After they had dinner, she says their next conversation was when he called her out of the blue while she was in rehab for drugs and alcohol.
Following her stay in rehab, Dickinson says Cosby reached out to her during a trip to Bali and had her travel to Lake Tahoe, because he was performing there and wanted to offer her the job they had discussed as well as help her with a singing career.
“The next morning I woke up, and I wasn’t wearing my pajamas, and I remember before I passed out that I had been sexually assaulted by this man,” she tells ET.
“… Before I woke up in the morning, the last thing I remember was Bill Cosby in a patchwork robe, dropping his robe and getting on top of me. And I remember a lot of pain. The next morning I remember waking up with my pajamas off and there was semen in between my legs.”
So far, Dickinson is the 3rd woman to come forward with sexual assault claims against Cosby, and all of the women involved claimed the incident occurred over 10 years ago.
While I don’t know if it’s true or false, there’s certainly a lot to question as to the timing of these revelations.
NBC has decided not to go forward with a proposed comedy series that would have starred the former ?Cosby Show? star and comedian, amid allegations from multiple women that he had sexually assaulted them, the network confirmed to TheWrap on Wednesday.
NBC’s axing of the project is the latest professional setback for Cosby since the allegations ? some resurfaced, some new ? recently began to dominate the news cycle. On Tuesday, Netflix postponed a planned comedy special,? Bill Cosby 77,? that was scheduled to premiere over the Thanksgiving weekend. (source)