Celebrity
Woman Files Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against Cosby, NBC Universal
A woman who claims Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1986 filed a lawsuit against the comedian-actor, NBC Universal, and other companies in New York on Friday, joining five other women who filed a similar suit earlier this month.
Stacey Pinkerton claims Cosby drugged her at a restaurant in Illinois and took her back to a hotel room in Chicago when she was a 21-year-old flight attendant and model that year. According to the lawsuit, Cosby “engaged in forced sexual intercourse” with her while she was intoxicated.
The suit comes more than a year after Cosby was released from prison after his sexual assault conviction in Pennsylvania was overturned in 2018. Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who claimed Cosby sexually abused her as a teenager at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.
Pinkerton claims Cosby assaulted her after she met him in New York, and he promised to help her career. She claims she appeared in an episode of “The Cosby Show” on NBC but did not make the final cut.
Pinkerton claimed that months after the alleged assault, Cosby invited her to his show at a Chicago theater, where she claims he forcefully kissed and touched her.
NBC knew Cosby a threat
According to Pinkerton’s lawsuit, “Cosby engaged in the same or similar pattern of conduct with his victims, including expressing interest in advancing their careers, giving them roles on The Cosby Show, using The Cosby Show and its filming locations as a means to access, isolate, sexually harass, and sexually assault women, using drugs to incapacitate his victims, and forcibly engaging in sexual acts with them without their consent.”
According to the lawsuit, NBC, Kaufman Astoria Studios, and Carsey-Werner Television should have known Cosby was a threat to women but did not protect Pinkerton from him.
According to Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt, Cosby “continues to vehemently deny all allegations waged against him and looks forward to defending himself in court.”
“As we have always stated, and now America can see, this isn’t about justice for alleged sexual assault victims; it’s ALL ABOUT MONEY,” Wyatt said in an email to The Associated Press. “We believe that the courts and the court of public opinion will uphold the rule of law and exonerate Mr. Cosby of these alleged charges.”
Statute of limitations to sue
NBC Universal, Kaufman Astoria Studios, and Carsey-Werner Television representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday night. “The Cosby Show” was produced by all three companies, according to Pinkerton’s lawsuit.
Pinkerton and the five other women filed their lawsuits under New York’s one-year window for adults to file sexual abuse complaints for allegations that had passed the statute of limitations to sue.
Cosby was sentenced to nearly three years in prison before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction, ruling that he gave incriminating testimony about the encounter in a deposition only after believing he was immune from prosecution. The trial judge or an intermediate appeals court found no evidence of such immunity.
Following Cosby’s conviction in Pennsylvania, seven other accusers received a settlement from Cosby’s insurers for a defamation lawsuit they filed in Massachusetts. According to their lawsuit, Cosby and his agents disparaged them while denying their abuse allegations.
