Bill Cosby reveals plans of 2023 tour amid sexual abuse and battery lawsuit

‘I feel that I will be able to perform and be the Bill Cosby that my audience knows me to be,’ actor said

Bill Cosby is already planning his comeback, despite the most recent sexual abuse, assault and battery lawsuit brought against him.

The December suit is just the latest controversy facing the 85-year-old comedian following his 2021 release from prison after his 2018 sexual assault conviction was overturned by Philadelphia’s Supreme Court.

Speaking on WWGH Radio’s Now with Scott Spears, on Wednesday (28 December), the disgraced actor told the host: “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.”

When asked by Spears whether 2023 might be his year for touring, Cosby answered affirmatively: “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 representatives confirmed the news to Variety, saying that he’s “looking at spring/summer to start touring”.

The announcement comes mere weeks after five women sued NBC and Cosby, claiming that the comedian sexually assaulted them early in their careers.

They allege that they were abused or assaulted by Cosby after meeting him on set or through the entertainment industry between the 1960s and 1990s.

Bill Cosby (Getty Images)

NBC, the network on which The Cosby Show aired from 1984 to 1992, was also named in the suit for being “culpable and liable” for the alleged sexual assaults.

The lawsuit is filed under New York’s Adult Survivor’s Act, which allows a one-year window for adults to file sexual abuse complaints.

Cosby has denied the allegations, saying the “accusers have resurfaced to file a frivolous civil lawsuit” against him.

Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury awarded $500,000 (£415,500) to a woman who said the former Cosby Show star had sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was a teenager.