Months before his retrial, Bill Cosby got up on stage and joked about the accusations against him.
Bill Cosby was found guilty of sexual assault. He’s not laughing now. In fact, he reportedly lashed out and screamed obscenities in the courtroom.
So much for the kindly facade that he worked so hard to maintain for all these years, huh?
As it turns out, a rich and once-beloved celebrity can be brought to justice in this country.
All that it takes to acquire justice is a dedication prosecution team, a massive shift in cultural awareness of sex crimes, and, oh, sixty accusers.
Despite that, everyone was unsure of the verdict until it was handed down. And it sounds like Bill Cosby was really taken off guard.
According to multiple witnesses, Cosby’s surprise turned to outrage when the prosecution suggested that he be locked up before sentencing out of fear that he could flee the country.
When the prosecutor pointed out that they didn’t think that any amount of money could guarantee that Cosby would show up to be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, the disgraced comedian reportedly stood up and yelled:
"I don’t have a private plane, you a–hole!"
Interesting to hear about standing and yelling, since Cosby has been shown as looking feeble and nearly blind … though some believe that his alleged infirmity was a calculated act to elicit sympathy.
Despite Cosby’s outburst, the prosecution’s argument that bail should be revoked did not convince the judge.
Cosby has shown up for every previous court appearance, and so the judge declared that it was unlikely and improbable that Cosby would flee the country to live out the rest of his days as a fugitive.
But the judge did acknowledge that it’s possible, so the disgraced comedian is confined to house arrest and will have an ankle monitor so that law enforcement can monitor his location and movements.
When Cosby is sentenced, even if his sentences are set to run concurrently, he is expected to spend the remainder of his life beyond bars.
Twitter’s response to Cosby’s reported antics reflected both satisfaction … and exasperation.
"The gig is up – not too disabled to rant and yell at DA in response to his guilty verdict!"
A lot of people are angered that Cosby would allegedly fake being frail in the hopes of getting a sympathy acquittal.
"Bill Cosby interrupting post-conviction court proceedings to curse out his prosecutor and yell that he doesn’t own a plane is my ‘quit while you’re ahead’ cue for this news cycle. See y’all later."
Sometimes, the news can be frustrating as hell.
Cosby’s conviction is for the assault of only one of his many, many accusers.
He was convicted for three counts of sexual assault against Andrea Constand, dating back to an incident in 2004.
Unfortunately, most states have a statute of limitations that tragically prevents survivors of sexual assault from seeing justice done.
But many see Andrea’s court victory against Cosby as a blow for all of his accusers.
Considering that his sentence is, as we mentioned, expected to keep him imprisoned for the rest of his life, some feel that it is enough.
(Even though it isn’t the sort of vindication that would come with dozens of convictions)
We hope that, when this is over, that these women receive the peace and closure that they deserve.
Cosby’s outburst doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s willing to drop his carefully cultivated image of a frail, kindly man.
It may be that he simply lost himself in anger over his conviction and over the prosecutor who made that happen’s desire to put him behind bars sooner rather than later.
Even if, at this point, courting public sympathy can no longer do him any practical good, he may continue to assert his innocence out of habit.
Everyone wants to be liked.