Cosby Team Blames Media for Town Hall Reports

They'll be about 'restoration of legacy,' not about sexual assault, publicist says
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 26, 2017 6:06 AM CDT
Cosby Town Halls Not on Sexual Assault: Rep
Bill Cosby after a mistrial in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., on June 17, 2017.   (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Bill Cosby has definite plans for this summer, but those plans don't involve what was initially reported, his publicity team now claims. Although his reps revealed last week that the 79-year-old comedian, whose sexual assault case ended in a mistrial earlier in June, would be hosting a series of town halls in which he'd speak on how to avoid being accused of such a crime, they're now backpedaling and saying that's not at all what he'll be speaking on, Deadline reports. "The town hall meetings are not about sexual assault," Cosby spokeswoman Ebonee Benson told Christi Paul of CNN's New Day on Sunday. "I will repeat. These town hall meetings are not about sexual assault."

What the town halls will ostensibly revolve around: "Restoration of legacy," Benson clarified, adding that initial reports about the town halls' purpose was brought about due to media "sensationalism." Except the media, specifically the New Day crew, wasn't having that, considering Benson and fellow Cosby publicist Andrew Wyatt hadn't mentioned anything about his legacy on a previous CNN appearance. "That does not match at all what she and her colleague told an interviewer on Thursday," New Day co-host Victor Blackwell noted as he played back a clip of their first interview, per Variety. Paul also tweeted about the discrepancy and added on the air: "To be clear: This was not a media narrative. This came from Cosby's publicity team." (More Bill Cosby stories.)

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