Cosby saw his career torched after multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault were brought against him. He was subject to multiple civil and criminal cases, imprisoned for three years, and has not worked since 2014.
The shamed comedian was found guilty in 2018 on three counts of aggravated indecent assault and was sentenced to up to a decade behind bars.
But in 2021, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court overturned the conviction, leading to Cosby’s release from jail. Over 60 women have accused comedian Cosby of various offenses, including rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and sexual harassment.
The alleged incidents span from the mid-1960s to 2008 and reportedly occurred in 10 U.S. states and one Canadian province. They describe a distinct and predatory pattern of behavior, with one common element being an alleged use of drugs.
Cosby was accused of offering women drinks or pills, such as Quaaludes or “herbal” pills, which accusers say left them incapacitated, to render them unconscious or physically “frozen” and unable to resist or move.
In a 2005 civil deposition, Cosby admitted to obtaining Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to women for sex. Many accusers were aspiring models, actresses, or were involved in the entertainment industry and viewed Cosby as a mentor or father figure, which he allegedly used to gain their trust before the assaults.
The women describe being sexually assaulted while they were impaired, disoriented, or completely unconscious. Some accusers said they received payments from Cosby afterward, which they viewed as a way to ensure their silence.
A former NBC employee claimed he paid off eight women on Cosby’s behalf in the 1970s. Due to statutes of limitations, most of the allegations did not result in criminal charges.
However, the allegations led to significant legal action. Cosby was criminally charged in Pennsylvania based on the allegations of Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee. In 2018, he was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
His conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in June 2021 on a procedural due process issue related to an unwritten non-prosecution agreement with a previous district attorney, leading to his release from prison.
Numerous civil lawsuits have been filed against Cosby. He has consistently maintained his innocence and denied all allegations, stating the encounters were consensual.
Murphy’s feud with Cosby stretches back to him getting a call from the sitcom star, in which he berated the young comic for his expletive-riddled humor in his shows.
At his 2015 acceptance speech for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Murphy said, “Bill has one of these (awards.) Did you all make Bill give his back? You know you f—– up when they want you to give your trophies back.”
The same year Murphy took another dig at Cosby, while the disgraced comedian was in prison, during his comeback Saturday Night Live appearance.
He said: “If you would have told me 30 years ago that I would be this boring, stay-at-home house dad and Bill Cosby would be in jail, even I would have took that bet.”
He concluded, referencing his own 10 children, “Who’s America’s Dad now?”
Cosby astonishingly publicly who shot back via his spokesman Andrew Wyatt, who said, “One would think that Mr. Murphy was given his freedom to leave the plantation, so that he could make his own decisions, but he decided to sell himself back to being a Hollywood Slave” – an allusion to Murphy’s return to SNL after three decades after his box office flops became a joke on the show in which he formerly starred during its early years.
Wyatt continued: “Remember, Mr. Murphy, that Bill Cosby became legendary because he used comedy to humanize all races, religions, and genders – but your attacking Mr. Cosby helps you embark on just becoming clickbait. Hopefully, you will be amenable to having a meeting of the minds conversation.”
Murphy suggested in an episode of Jeremy Seinfeld‘s Comedians in Cars chat show the feud was driven by Cosby’s jealousy and fears he might be overtaken by a younger comic.
“He had a weird thing with me that he didn’t have with other comics,” Murphy said on the show: “It was mean. He wasn’t doing that with everybody; he was doing that with me specifically. He was s—-y with me.”
