Sarah Silverman criticised for 'dumb' joke about Bill Cosby rape allegations
The actor has denied the claims made against him
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Your support makes all the difference.Sarah Silverman has been accused of trivialising rape, after making a Twitter joke about the recent sexual assault allegations made against Bill Cosby.
Cosby has consistently strongly denied all the claims, which his attorney has described as “decades-old” and “discredited”.
Over the past two months, three women have accused the actor of historic rape, including model Janice Dickinson.
The Associated Press recently published unedited footage of Cosby asking the news service to remove a clip of him being asked about the allegations on the basis that to air the full interview was a challenge to its journalistic integrity.
Silverman - who is known for her controversial, outspoken humour - used the allegations as the source of comedic material on Twitter.
However, she was quickly criticised by social media users, some of which argued that the joke was “too soon”.
Silverman later shared an edited version of the tweet.
A spokesperson for Silverman is yet to respond for request for comment.
In October, Barbara Bowman claimed that Cosby drugged and raped her when she was a teenager in 1985, when she was then an aspiring actress.
Bowman was one of 13 victims called to take to the witness stand in 2006 when Andrea Constand claimed that Cosby had drugged and assaulted her in his Philadelphia mansion in 2004 - allegations firmly denied by his lawyers.
In 2006, Cosby settled the case with Constand. The terms of the settlement remain undisclosed.
Last weekend, the actor’s lawyer said that he will not be commenting on the “decade-old discredited” allegations.
“The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true,” read a statement on Cosby’s website.
“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.”
This week his lawyers also responded to Ms Dickinson’s allegation against him, strongly denying her claim and adding, “There is a glaring contradiction between what she is claiming now for the first time and what she wrote in her own book and what she told the media back in 2002.”
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