Cosby fallout: LAPD confirms criminal investigation; Disney removes statue of comedian

Disney removes Bill Cosby statue at Hollywood Studios
Bronze bust of Bill Cosby at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Feb.10, 2010. (Jeff Nickel, nickel.media via Flickr) (Jeff Nickel, nickel.media)

The fallout from Bill Cosby's admission that he gave Quaaludes to at least one woman he wanted to have sex with — a revelation that was unsealed in court documents on Monday — continues to mount.

NBC reports that the woman whose lawsuit led a federal judge to unseal part of the 2005 deposition may ask the judge to unseal all of Cosby's testimony.

Cosby's lawyers fought to keep his testimony secret, but U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno granted a request by the Associated Press to unseal the deposition, saying Cosby is a public figure whose comments about moral issues, combined with the serious allegations against him, put the release of testimony in the public interest.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department is conducting at least one current criminal investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Cosby, NPR reported Tuesday.

The LAPD said the investigation "may have multiple accusations" but would not offer more details because the case is ongoing.

On Tuesday night, a bronze statue of the 77-year-old comedian was removed from Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios theme park. Park officials confirmed that the Cosby statue, which had been a fixture in Disney's Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame Plaza, was in the process of being taken down, but did not comment further.

Brittany Gavrilova, whose aunt is one of Cosby's alleged victims, launched an online petition seven months ago to have the statue removed.

"To not be able to walk through Disney without having that difficult encounter, it makes me sad," Gavrilova told WESH-TV. "Like, wow, this person hurt a family member of mine."

The Smithsonian Institution, though, is standing behind a museum exhibition that partly relies on the art collection of Bill Cosby and his wife.

"The National Museum of African Art is aware of the recent revelations about Bill Cosby's behavior," the Smithsonian said in a statement Tuesday. "The museum in no way condones this behavior. Our current 'Conversations' exhibition, which includes works of African art from our permanent collection and African American art from the collection of Camille and Bill Cosby, is fundamentally about the artworks and the artists who created them, not the owners of the collections."

Cosby has been accused of sexual assault by more than two dozen women, including many who say he drugged and raped them in strikingly similar encounters over a four-decade span. Lawyers for Cosby have denied the allegations, and he has never been criminally charged.

Lawyers for the alleged victims say Cosby's admission amounts to corroboration of their allegations. And several of the women gave interviews on Tuesday to discuss the revelation.

"I had a number of reactions," Beverly Johnson told ABC's "Good Morning America." "I was numb."

"I didn't realize that I was going to get this onslaught of people wanting to interview me again, and so naturally, you know, you want to get underneath the covers and put the covers over your head — but you can't do that and I won't do that," Johnson said. "I want my voice to be heard ... I'm telling my truth."

Janice Dickinson, who alleges that Cosby violated her in 1982, says she feels "validated."

"It shows that he and all his people knew all along that we were telling the truth," Dickinson told People magazine.

Singer Jill Scott, who defended Cosby last year, said Monday's revelation was a turning point.

"About Bill Cosby," Scott wrote to her Twitter followers. "Sadly his own testimony offers PROOF of terrible deeds, which is ALL I have ever required to believe the accusations."


Director Judd Apatow, one of Cosby's most vocal critics in Hollywood, said we shouldn't need him to admit guilt to believe his alleged victims.

"We shouldn't need Bill Cosby to admit it to believe 40 people who were victimized by him," Apatow said Tuesday. "Maybe now more people in show business and all around our country will stand up and tell the people he attacked that 'we support you and believe you.'"

Whoopi Goldberg, though, isn't one of them.

"I don't like snap judgments because I've had snap judgments made on me, so I'm very, very careful," Goldberg said on "The View" Tuesday. "Save your texts, save your nasty comments. I don't care."

"This is my opinion and in America, still — I know it's a shock — but you actually [are] innocent until proven guilty," Goldberg said. "He has not been proven a rapist."

Her "View" co-host Raven-Symoné, who co-starred with Cosby on "The Cosby Show," said she needs further proof before judging him.

"I don't really like to talk about it that much, because he's the reason I'm on this panel — he gave me my first job," she said. "But at the same time, you need the proof, and then I'll be able to give my judgment here or there. And now there are real facts, more people can come up."