Despite two new sexual assault and abuse lawsuits, comedian Bill Cosby said he’s considering going on tour again starting next year.
The 85-year-old actor made the comments during an appearance on Ohio’s WGH Talk radio station on Wednesday. Cosby said he wanted to begin a new comedy tour starting in 2023.
“Yes, because there’s so much fun to be had in this storytelling that I do,” Cosby said of his tour plans. “When I come out of this, I feel that I will be able to perform and be the Bill Cosby that my audience knows me to be.”
The actor’s publicist Andrew Wyatt confirmed this information to The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re looking at getting back out here around Spring/Summer of 2023,” he told the publication.
The news comes after a slew of legal battles for the star of “The Cosby Show.” In 2014, more than 50 women came forward with sexual assault allegations against Cosby. The next year he was charged with the assault of Andrea Constand, a former director of operations for Temple University’s women’s basketball team. The actor was found guilty and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, but was later released in 2021 after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction citing an unfair violation of due process.
In March 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it would not review Cosby’s sexual assault case.
Most recently, “Cosby Show” actresses Lili Bernard and Eden Tirl and others, including Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson, and Cindra Ladd, accused Cosby again of assault, battery, and infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment. They had filed allegations previously but are now introducing a new civil suit filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which gives survivors of sexual abuse a one-year window to sue even if the statute of limitations on their allegations has expired, per Entertainment Weekly.
Cosby denied these new allegations in a statement. Per EW, he said, “As we have always stated, and now America can see, this isn’t about justice for victims of alleged sexual assault; it’s ALL ABOUT MONEY. We believe that the courts, as well as the court of public opinion, will follow the rules of law and relieve Mr. Cosby of these alleged accusations. Mr. Cosby continues to vehemently deny all allegations waged against him and looks forward to defending himself in court.”
Cosby last went on tour in 2015. At the time, the comedian faced protests and was forced to cancel shows as multiple women came forward and accused the actor of sexual crimes.