Bill Cosby Video Released By AP: Cosby Asks Interviewer To Nix Rape Question

Bill Cosby chided an Associated Press reporter for asking him about the rape allegations against him and asked that that portion of the Nov. 6 interview not be aired. The video, which the AP released Thursday, comes with a statement from the news service that it had made no prior agreement with Cosby to refrain from asking any questions or publishing them.

In the Nov. 6 interview, Cosby was asked to comment about the rape allegations against him.

“No, no we don’t answer that," he replied, shaking his head. Shortly after, Cosby says, “I would appreciate it if it was scuttled. ... I think if you want to consider yourself to be serious, that it will not appear anywhere."

After a brief conversation with an AP producer and camerawoman in which Cosby is told that there was no agreement made not to ask him the questions, he suggests that only news organizations that lack integrity would need to be told not to ask him about the rape allegations.

"And we thought that because it was AP," Cosby said, "that it wouldn’t be necessary to go over that with you. If you will just tell your boss why we didn’t say that up front, we thought that AP had the integrity to not ask. I think you need to get on the phone with his person immediately."

In a voiceover in the video, the interviewer reiterates that the AP had made no agreement with Cosby not to ask any particular questions or to publish his responses, and that both he and his wife still had their mics on and knew the camera was running when they spoke.

The video comes a day after BuzzFeed reported that it received a letter from Cosby's lawyer, Martin Singer, in which he denies Janice Dickinson's claims that Cosby raped her, calling it "an outrageous, defamatory lie" and writes that if it continues to publish the story, "all those involved will be exposed to very substantial liability."