COMEDIAN Bill Cosby is making a return to the stage and public eye with a tour planned in 2023.
During a surprise radio interview on “WGH Talk” on December 28, Cosby responded “yes” when host Scott Spears enquired if 2023 is the year he tours again.
Cosby, now 85, still has outstanding criminal sexual assault charges filed against him. He was convicted in Pennsylvania in April 2018 and served nearly three years in prison when the conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court.
During his trial, which occurred at the height of the MeToo movement, 60 women testified that he sexually assaulted them. He was found guilty of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in his Philadelphia home back in 2004.
Cosby’s last live stage appearance was on May 2, 2015, in Atlanta, Georgia. It was part of the ‘Far from Finished’ tour.
Before that, he was set to release a new standup special, ‘Bill Cosby 77’, on Netflix but was subsequently cancelled when sexual assault allegations arose.
“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 Spears.
Responding to Spears’ question about whether 2023 might be a touring year, Cosby responded, “Yes. Yes, because there is so much fun to be had in this storytelling that I do. Years ago, maybe 10 years ago, 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.”
Earlier this month, five women filed a new sexual assault lawsuit against NBC and Bill Cosby under a New York state law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for older sexual assault claims.
The women allege that Cosby either raped them or forced them into sexual acts. Four of the allegations date from the late 1980s or 1990, when the actor was at the height of his fame as the star of ‘The Cosby Show’ on NBC.
The fifth allegation involves Cindra Ladd, a former Hollywood executive who has accused Cosby of raping her in 1969.
Wyatt called the lawsuit “frivolous” and said the five women were part of a “parade of accusers” who had come forward between 2014 and 2016. – The Vibes, December 29, 2022
