In news that virtually no one wanted to close out 2022 with, disgraced comedian Bill Cosby announced his intentions to resume touring next year.
The 85-year-old, who was released from federal prison in June 2021 when his sexual assault conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court due to violations of his due process rights, made his remarks on the Marion, Ohio-based radio program WGH Talk on Wednesday, Dec. 28.
“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,” Cosby told host Scott Spears, according to Variety, which further reported:
Responding to Spears’ question about whether 2023 might be a touring year, Cosby responded, “Yes. Yes because there’s so much fun to be had in this storytelling that I do. Years ago, maybe 10 years ago, I found it was better to say it after I write it.”
Cosby’s rep, Andrew Wyatt, confirmed to Variety that the comedian is “looking at spring/summer to start touring.”
Coincidentally enough, Cosby’s announcement that he wants to get back to touring comes just weeks after five women filed a sexual assault lawsuit earlier this month, using a New York state law that extends the statute of limitations so adult accusers can file civil claims. Of the five, three had connections to Cosby through The Cosby Show ranging from the late ’80s to ’90s, and all said that he had offered to “mentor” them to help break into the entertainment industry.
Instead, the women say that Cosby drugged and assaulted them.
Earlier this year, Cosby was found liable in a Santa Monica, California civil trial, in which a woman named Judy Huth said that he had sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion when she was just 16 years old in 1975. As a result, Cosby was ordered to pay $500,000 in compensatory damages to Huth.
A spokesperson for Cosby has called the new lawsuit “frivolous,” and that the five women were part of a “parade of accusers” who had come forward since 2014. But perhaps, this sudden urge to tour is an indication that Cosby and his legal team aren’t quite so confident that they can win the suit.