Bill Cosby Performs First Show Since Sexual Assault Allegations Surfaced in 2015

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January 23, 2018 3:42 AM

Bill Cosby performed for the first time in public since multiple women came forward in 2015 to accuse him of sexual assault, telling stories and jokes in front of a supportive crowd Monday evening in Philadelphia.

Cosby, clutching a cane and wearing a gray sweatshirt that read, “Hello Friend,” took the stage at the LaRose Jazz Club around 7 p.m. Eastern time, his first performance since his comedy tour came to a halt in May 2015 amid mounting allegations of sexual misconduct.

Cosby sat on a stool surrounded by a group of roughly 50 admiring fans and friends, who snapped photos throughout the performance.

His appearance, which was part of a show honoring jazz drummer Tony Williams, was open to the public — but Cosby’s spokesman announced it only about two hours before it started.

During his set, Cosby, 80, joked about his struggles with blindness and remarked about the age of the audience. He then played the drums with the Tony Williams Jazz Quartet.

Cosby did not, however, mention his retrial on sexual assault charges scheduled to begin in the spring, according to an NPR reporter at Monday’s show. The retrial will take place in a far different landscape than when his first trial ended in a hung jury last summer. In the months since then, high-profile men in Hollywood, media and politics have suffered swift consequences during a wave of allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior.

Bobby Allyn, the NPR reporter, said on Twitter that he asked Cosby how the #MeToo movement might affect jurors in his retrial. Allyn said, “He shrugged in an animated way, put on a goofy smile and said, ‘I don’t know!'”

In the coming trial, the chief complainant, Andrea Constand, a former Temple University basketball staff member, has alleged that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home near Philadelphia in 2004. Last week, prosecutors in the case asked a judge to allow testimony from 19 additional women who say Cosby assaulted them.

In a deposition more than 10 years ago, Cosby spoke about using drugs and his fame to seduce women.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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