On Friday night, Bill Cosby appeared in Melbourne, Florida for a 90-minute comedy set. There were no hecklers in the building and just a single person outside the Maxwell C. King Center with a sign that read “rape is no joke.” For a short while there, everyone in attendance forgot the sexual assault allegations that have all but destroyed Cosby’s career comeback.
In fact, at the beginning of the show, Cosby received a standing ovation. He responded with a heartfelt thumbs up (video above).
“I think people went in there with him as Bill Cosby from the TV show,” said Travis Weberling, 40, of Melbourne, “not the guy they heard about on the news.”
Cosby urged people to “check their facts” before judging him.
“I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn’t have to answer to innuendos,” Cosby told the Florida Today newspaper before the show. “People should fact check.”
Cosby’s lawyer, Martin Singer, said the accusations had “escalated far past the point of absurdity,” dismissing them as “fantastical,” “unsubstantiated” and “uncorroborated.”
“When will it end?” he asked. “It is long past time for this media vilification of Mr. Cosby to stop.”
It’s been a tumultuous few weeks for Bill Cosby. After Hannibal Buress called him a “smug-faced rapist”, several women have come forward with allegations, some as far back as 40 years. NBC responded by pulling the plug on a sitcom they were developing. Then TV Land pulled all reruns of The Cosby Show from the air.
Cosby remains adamant the allegations against him are false.
