Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Update: Disney Takes His Bust Down; Reaction From Jill Scott Following Quaaludes Revelations

On Monday after documents surfaced in which Bill Cosby admitted to getting Quaaludes to give to girls he wanted to have sex with, the comedian lost an adamant supporter who had defended him against brewing sexual assault allegations over the last year. On Tuesday, he lost some more support: His bust in the Hollywood Studios Hall of Fame Plaza will be removed, Disney confirmed to a WESH TV reporter in Florida.

The Associated Press reported Monday that court documents from a 2005 hearing involving one of the more than two dozen women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault indicated that he admitted under oath at the time to getting the drugs for women he wanted to sleep with. Upon hearing the news, singer-actress Jill Scott, who had publicly defended Cosby over the past months, recanted her position and said she was “completely disgusted” with the news.

Scott’s remarks were unapologetic about her previous position. She said that the sworn testimony was the proof she needed to change her mind, and later spoke to being pained by the revelations after standing “by a man [she] respected and loved. It HURTS!!!” She said in the series of tweets that black men are often detained or imprisoned without proper evidence to support those arrests.

The 2005 case in which Cosby testified about Quaaludes involved a former Temple University employee, who accused the now-77-year-old of assault. At the time, Cosby said that he gave the woman three half pills of Benadryl, and Cosby’s lawyers have repeatedly denied the accuracy of sexual assault allegations.

Women had come forward with the accusations over the years, but it wasn’t until a comedian used the word “rape” in connection with Cosby that public outrage swelled. In October of last year, Hannibal Buress used the word on a stage in Cosby’s hometown of Philadelphia.

“It’s even worse because Bill Cosby has the ... smuggest old black man persona that I hate,” Buress said. “He gets on TV, ‘Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the '80s! I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom!’ Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches.”

Cosby has not been charged in criminal court in relation to any of the allegations.

Cosby has also fallen from grace from Temple University in Philadelphia, his alma mater. His standup special with Netflix has been shelved indefinitely. NBC, which had planned a new sitcom with the comedian, also has backed away from him.