Spokespeople for Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille, appeared on “Good Day Alabama” on Wednesday and said they will be holding an upcoming series of town halls to educate the public on sexual assault.
Andrew Wyatt and Ebonee Benson discussed the recent mistrial of Cosby’s case and explained what’s next for the Cosby camp. Wyatt vaguely discussed what sounds to be a town hall tour around the country.
While it’s unclear if Cosby himself will be on the tour, Wyatt told “Good Day Alabama” that the town halls will be a space to talk to young people about sexual assault.
“We are now planning town halls and we’re gonna be coming to this city sometime in July,” Wyatt said. “To talk to young people because this is bigger than Bill Cosby. This issue can affect any young person, especially young athletes of today. And they need to know what they’re facing when they’re hanging out and partying, when they’re doing certain things that they shouldn’t be doing — and it also affects married men.”
Wyatt added that there will be a town hall in Montgomery, Alabama, “sometime in July.”
When the host of “Good Day Alabama” retorted that these town halls are “kind of a do as I say not as I do situation,” Benson interjected, explaining that people need to be educated on sexual assault legislation.
“Laws are changing. The statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault are being extended,” she said. “So, this is why people need to be educated on a brush against the shoulder, you know anything at this point can be considered sexual assault and it’s a good thing to be educated about the laws.”
Watch the full “Good Day Alabama” interview below.
While it’s still unclear what the town halls will consist of, it sounds as though Cosby’s camp will be holding these events to teach people how to avoid being accused of sex crimes.
In response to the interview, women’s advocacy group UltraViolet called the town hall tour “Bill Cosby’s ‘how to get away with rape and sexual assault’ tour.”
“The fact that Cosby, a man who has admitted to drugging women with quaaludes, would have the audacity to travel the country teaching men how to avoid rape accusations is a disgusting display of rape culture in action,” Ultraviolet said in the statement madeon Thursday.
In a statement to HuffPost on Thursday, Wyatt clarified his comments, writing that he and Benson have “received hundreds of calls from civic organizations and churches requesting for Mr. Cosby to speak to young men and women about the judicial system.”
“These groups would like for Mr. Cosby to share that people in the judicial system can use their powers to annul deals for personal agenda and political ambitions,” Wyatt said, adding that the speeches would be free.
After 52 hours of deliberation, jurors on Cosby’s criminal case were unable to reach a unanimous decision and were forced to declare a mistrial. The 79-year-old comedian was on trial for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former women’s basketball coach at Temple University, in 2004. On Saturday, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said he planned to retry the case.
This article has been updated with a statement from UltraViolet and Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt.