Bill Cosby, who will appear in court in June to face charges of sexual assault, gave his first public interview in over two years, arguing that racism played a major role in the charges against him.
Speaking with SiriusXM’s Michael Smerconish, Cosby agreed with his daughter Ensa’s comments that accusations against him may have been racially motivated. He stated, “Could be, could be. I can’t say anything, but there are certain things that I look at and I apply to the situation. And there are so many tentacles. So many different — nefarious is a great word. And I just truly believe that some of it may very well be that.”
Roughly 60 women have accused Cosby of sexual assault.
Cosby also cited greed and revenge as other motivating factors in the accusations against him. He said, “When you look at the power structure, and when you look at individuals, there are some people who can very well be motivated by whether or not they’re going to work, or whether or not they might be able to get back at someone. It’s not all, not every, but I do believe there’s some.”
Cosby opined that the reason a plethora of accusers surfaced to charge him with assault stemmed from the desire to load the evidence against him and catalyze the public to recoil from him: “I think that the numbers came because the numbers prior to [these] numbers didn’t work. So the piling on, so to speak, is a way — and certainly an impressive, impressive way — to get public opinion to come to the other side.”
Cosby told Smerconish that he won’t testify at his trial.