Comedian Bill Cosby, 77, admitted in a 2005 court deposition that he obtained Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with, reports the Associated Press. He also admitted giving the sedative to at least one woman. The Hollywood Reporter said the documents disclose Cosby testified he called Tom Illus, an agent at William Morris Agency and asked him to send money to one female accuser. Cosby is said to have testified that Illus, now deceased, did not ask him why. “I don’t expect to see a public confession from Bill Cosby. He’s not going to get on his knees,” Howard Bragman of Reputation.com tells USA Today.
The damning court documents could be the best-case scenario for Cosby, says Jeetendr Sehdev, an authority on celebrity branding and professor of marketing at the University of Southern California. “It’s almost an admission of guilt without him admitting guilt. It’s the closest we’re going to get to an admission of guilt and clarity around what happened.” Does the new information seal the deal on Cosby’s legacy? “His legacy was already sealed before,” Bragman says. “It’s just too many (women) with too much the same story and no relation to each other. It was hard to see any redemption for him.” To date, some 40 women have come forward alleging sexual assault or misconduct from Cosby. Should he confess, “it also validates the victims, meaning they were telling the truth, and that’s important,” says communications expert Karen Friedman, author of Shut Up and Say Something. Legally speaking, it remains in Cosby’s best interest to keep his mouth shut.