Topless Protester Causes Stir at Bill Cosby Trial
by EG
The retrial of The Cosby Show creator Bill Cosby on sexual assault charges got underway this week, and it is already becoming a media spectacle. Monday morning's proceedings were attended by a topless woman who leaped over a barricade and was taken into custody by police.
Via Page Six.
The first day of the retrial against Bill Cosby started off with several protests, including one leading to the arrest of a topless woman. The woman (whose name has yet to be released to the public) ran into a crowd of onlookers outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Monday morning. According to several witnesses, she leaped over a barricade and removed her shirt before the police could take her into custody just ahead of Cosby’s arrival to the courthouse.
Given the nature of the case — the 80-year-old comedian is charged with three felony counts of sexual assault for allegedly drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, in his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004 — it’s expected that the climate outside the courthouse during this era of #MeToo and #TimesUp will continue to get heated as the case proceeds this week.
A second protest by the National Organization of Women was organized Monday morning by activists vowing to bring attention to victims of sexual violence.
Bill Cosby's retrial for sexual assault is underway after drama outside the courtroom -- a topless protester with "Women's Lives Matter" written on her body charged at him and got within a few feet of the comedian. https://t.co/g06DamfN4N pic.twitter.com/CfGDMIWOY5
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) April 9, 2018
“We are here to stand up for Cosby’s 57 victims and to educate the public about the realities of gender-based violence,” said Sonia Ossorio, president of New York’s NOW. “How does a man get away with sexually abusing and raping nearly 60 women before being held accountable? We are here to set the tone, and send a message that the era of impunity ends now.”
Cosby accuser Lili Bernard announced on social media that she will be holding a vigil Monday night at the courthouse for all of Cosby’s alleged victims. Her Instagram post Monday morning showed Bernard with five other accusers attending the trial. “Vanguard survivor sisters … in support of our six survivor sisters of the avant-garde about to face the two-faced beast known as Bill Cosby, the Serial Drugging Rapist who Duped the World,” she wrote. Bernard has accused Cosby of drugging and raping her while she was guest starring on the eighth and final season of The Cosby Show.
Get the rest of the story at Page Six.
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