Is Bill Cosby Not Innocent until proven guilty?

whats the deal.........

If he were to be indicted and tried, then yes, he would be innocent until proven guilty. But that legal concept has nothing to do with what people think about him.

For me it is also about the sheer number of women coming forward, especially since most of them have nothing to gain by doing so.

He can't be tried legally, it's too long ago. So he will never be "proven" one way or another

For me it is his choice not to acknowledge the accusations. His choice. And sponsors don't have to choose his show to back with their money. Bill Cosby has lost touch with his family image and is saying nothing about it.

Is he in jail? I must have missed that.

Not jail, just a reaction to his silence.

He's acting way too shady to elicit any support or sympathy.

He's not going to be tried. Too much time has passed.


Why would all these women be coming forward if he hadn't done what they are saying he did?

False accusations do happen. But the sheer number in this situation makes it hard to dismiss as such.

Vacanculo said:

whats the deal.........

The deal is that you would prefer to believe that a dozen 15 women are lying about being raped.

The PRESUMPTION of innocence is feature of our legal system. But he either IS or IS NOT guilty (regardless of court cases or the lack thereof) and I guess only he and the women know for sure. It doesn't sound good, though.

OJ was presumed innocent too. Didn't mean rational folks didn't have an opinion before the verdict. And after.

I'm guessing he and Woody Allen are commiserating over cigars. Yuck.

12 of the accusers had their accusations settled as Jane Doe complainants. Under that system, they got $$$ to go away. Another one came out yesterday.

That settles the question of why they waited until now to go public. They didn't. they complained years ago.

He's definitely innocent until proven guilty. That doesn't stop anyone from having an opinion on the matter.

technically he's not guilty until proven guilty.

but as others have said, he's not on trial and we're not jurors. if that was the case, I could definitely go into a trial and consider him not guilty until I've seen the evidence.

that said, a person would have to be in willful disbelief mode not to think that Cosby really is a serial rapist. Fifteen women (and counting) who don't know each other, describing similar stories that took place over a span of nearly 40 years, who have nothing to gain (and probably something to lose if Cosby and his lawyers wanted to smear them) -- that's pretty darn convincing. And what does Cosby have in response? Nothing.

If I were wealthy and famous and was accused of a crime, throwing money at the problem to make it go away only makes me appear guilty. I would fight to the death to prove my innocence and not give a penny to liars and con artists. Cosby evidently doesn't feel this way.

Did we really need a second thread on this?

apparently we needed one in which a person is sticking up for the Cos.

The thing is, throwing money at it is the only recourse he has at this point. The stories are so old I don't think there is any way whatsoever to prove anything, whether for a guilty verdict or a not guilty verdict.

His PR team and lawyers must wish they had never met him at this point.

Not sticking up for him. I am repulsed by him innocent or guilty.
But trial by media is bs.
Many famous people pay for things to go away guilty or not . No one wants a story out there...
Its the ad part of a public life...

jerseyjack said:

12 of the accusers had their accusations settled as Jane Doe complainants. Under that system, they got $$$ to go away. Another one came out yesterday.

I wasn't aware of this, from what I read only one had received money. That does change things, but considering the number of women speaking up who did not receive a dime and who are not looking for money I still have to say it looks very, very, bad.

Vacanculo said:

Not sticking up for him. I am repulsed by him innocent or guilty.
But trial by media is bs.
Many famous people pay for things to go away guilty or not . No one wants a story out there...
Its the ad part of a public life...

What does trial by media mean? Do you think the media should not be covering the fact that 13 women have accused him? Should the media not be covering the very strange way he has (and has not) responded to the accusations? Should the media not be covering the outrage on social media? The media didn't create this situation for Cosby. He created it. The media are covering it, which is the point of media. Do you think media outlets should not ever cover any alleged wrongdoing before it's "proven" in a courtroom? Who would that benefit, other than obviously the alleged wrongdoers?

Vacanculo said:

Not sticking up for him. I am repulsed by him innocent or guilty.
But trial by media is bs.
Many famous people pay for things to go away guilty or not . No one wants a story out there...
Its the ad part of a public life...

it's actually the opposite of this. the "media" pretty much sat on this story for decades. certainly for ten years at least. it wasn't until regular people started questioning why Bill Cosby remained a respected moral authority despite the accusations of rape that the "mainstream media" started giving this story credence.

it wasn't CNN or MSNBC that produced these:

neither is officer Darren Wilson.. selective justice

Vacanculo said:

Not sticking up for him. I am repulsed by him innocent or guilty.
But trial by media is bs.
Many famous people pay for things to go away guilty or not . No one wants a story out there...
Its the ad part of a public life...

Why would you be repulsed if he is innocent. The Media did not sit on anything when he settled the one case it was in the news and his wife threatened to divorce him. When the model wrote the book it was also covered in the news. People in this country just have a very short memory.

I should probably not have said they sat on the story. I think it would be better described that most mainstream media outlets didn't seem to give the story much credence. I've only become aware of the details over the past year or so. I wasn't aware that he was accused of drugging women. I wasn't aware of the number of accusations. And I pay attention to the news. I only knew he was accused of forcing himself on a woman who sued him.

Please, there was not much coverage at all. Most people are currently surprised/shocked because they didn't know these stories existed until recently.

When the model wrote the book, she included only a sanitized version after Cosby threatened her publisher.

metunetr said:

Vacanculo said:

Not sticking up for him. I am repulsed by him innocent or guilty.
But trial by media is bs.
Many famous people pay for things to go away guilty or not . No one wants a story out there...
Its the ad part of a public life...

Why would you be repulsed if he is innocent. The Media did not sit on anything when he settled the one case it was in the news and his wife threatened to divorce him. When the model wrote the book it was also covered in the news. People in this country just have a very short memory.

I do not find him funny and his preaching to young comedians is ridiculous