Bill Cosby Lawyers: Comedian Admitted to Recreational Drug Use, Not Rape
On Tuesday, lawyers representing Bill Cosby asked a judge to keep the settlement terms of a 2005 sexual-battery suit against the comedian sealed, citing the media’s “inaccurate” reporting of other recently released court documents from the lawsuit, the Associated Press reports.
“Reading the media accounts, one would conclude that defendant has admitted to rape,” wrote Cosby’s lawyers. “And yet defendant admitted to nothing more than being one of the many people who introduced quaaludes into their consensual sex life in the 1970’s.”
In one of the most widely reproduced passages from the documents, Cosby confirmed that he planned to “use” Qualuudes “for young women that [he] wanted to have sex with,” a carefully-worded admission several news sources reported as a confession the comedian had drugged women.
Cosby’s lawyers also emphasized the alleged ubiquity of the hypnotic drug allegedly once known as “disco biscuits.” From NPR:
“Indeed, Quaaludes were a highly popular recreational drug in the 1970’s, labeled in slang as ‘disco biscuits,’ and known for their capacity to increase sexual arousal.
“There are countless tales of celebrities, music stars, and wealthy socialites in the 1970’s willingly using Quaaludes for recreational purposes and during consensual sex. Yet, upon the unsealing of those excerpts, the media immediately pounced, inaccurately labeling the released testimony as Defendant’s ‘confession’ of ‘drugging’ women and assaulting them.”
This weekend, The New York Times obtained Cosby’s full deposition, reporting the comedian presented himself as “someone who used a combination of fame, apparent concern and powerful sedatives in a calculated pursuit of young women.”
At one point during the four-day deposition, Cosby implied he was skilled at recognizing nonverbal consent, saying, “I think I’m a pretty decent reader of people and their emotions in these romantic sexual things, whatever you want to call them.”
[Image via AP Images]