Bill Cosby will not dignify sex abuse allegations with a comment, says comedian's lawyer

Cosby's lawyer said the actor would not be making any further statements about the 'decade-old' claims

Bill Cosby refused to speak about the sex abuse allegations in a radio interview this weekend

Bill Cosby’s lawyer has said the comedian will not dignify “discredited” allegations of sexual abuse with a response.

Attorney John P Schmitt released a statement online saying the fact that the “decade-old” allegations have been repeated does not make them true.

He said: “Mr Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment. He would like to thank all his fans for the outpouring of support and assure them that, at age 77, he is doing his best work. There will be no further statement for Mr Cosby or any of his repreentatives.”

The statement follows the comedian’s cancelled appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Queen Latifah Show last week.

Cosby refused to speak about the allegations after being confronted by host Scott Smith on NPR radio’s Weekend Edition Saturday.

The actor and comedian has not been charged with any cases and settled a civil lawsuit in 2006 with a woman over an alleged incident two years before. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Barbara Bowman, one of Cosby's accusers, has levelled allegations of sexual assault by the comic in interviews and in a Washington Post column, writing that “Cosby won my trust as a 17-year-old aspiring actress in 1985, brainwashed me into viewing him as a father figure, and then assaulted me multiple times”.

An effort by his social media team to generate some good publicity last week backfired as the accusations circulated.

A tweet from Cosby’s urged people to create internet “memes” of the actor, saying ”Go ahead. Meme me!“.

It was deleted after Twitter users used the ‘#Cosbymeme hastag as an opportunity to make further allegations.

With additional reporting from the Associated Press.

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