14 DAY TRIAL // Since the Bill Cosby drug-raping scandal started picking up steam in the past few years or so, Whoopi Goldberg, longtime co-host on ABC’s The View, has emerged as one of the comedian’s most vocal defenders. She remains so today, after a judge unsealed documents from a 2005 case, including a deposition in which Cosby admitted to drugging women before sleeping with them.
The View is now back on the air, and because everyone online and in the media was talking about the new twist in the Cosby case, the latest episode also tackled the topic. Whoopi refused to go with the majority, insisting that he was still not a “proven rapist.”
Whoopi stands by Cosby no matter what
You can see a video of this segment embedded below. Raven-Symone could also be seen as Cosby defender, in that she refuses to comment on the new development, saying she’s holding out for more solid evidence of his guilt.
She’s referring to his guilt in terms of the 40+ women who have stepped forward to claim they were drugged and raped by Cosby, and then scared into silence by his powerful aides in the industry. She’s also honest about not rushing to pass judgment: had it not been for him, she would not have had a career in the first place, so she feels like she owes it to him to not say anything yet.
Whoopi, on the other hand, is more vocal and determined: Bill Cosby is innocent. Sure, he admitted in an older case to giving one woman Quaaludes before sleeping with her, but to her, that means nothing.
Whoopi conveniently doesn’t talk about Cosby’s admission, in the same court documents made public the other day, that he gave more women drugs so that he could have his way with them.
In America, you’re innocent until proven guilty
“Save your texts, save your nasty comments, I don’t care,” Whoopi said on the show. “I say this because this is my opinion, and in America still, I know it’s a shock, but you actually were innocent until proven guilty. He has not been proven a rapist.”
In her eyes, the fact that Cosby admitted to giving one woman Quaaludes means that he only wanted to show her a good time. Whoopi too took them in the ‘80s, because that was the scene back then.
Again, she conveniently ignores the fact that Cosby did this in 2005 and that the woman went on the record saying that she did not want to have relations with him. Hence the lawsuit, which she filed because she only wanted an apology from him.
As of the time of writing, more than 40 women have come forward to identify as Cosby’s victims. Some of them say they have kept the secret for 30 years because they knew they didn’t stand a chance against one of industry’s heavyweights or because they were ashamed.
Whoopi still believes they’re out to ruin his reputation for whatever reason.
