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Bill Cosby

Source: Spencer Platt / Getty

A U.S. district judge used Bill Cosby’s 2004 “Pound Cake” speech, which took Black parents to task for failing to properly raise their kids, as grounds for unsealing a damaging deposition, reports The Washington Post.

Judge Eduardo C. Robreno said the speech, and Cosby’s general posture as a “public moralist,” made the deposition a legitimate subject of public interest sufficient to override Cosby’s objections to the documents’ disclosure, the report says.

In the deposition made public this week by the Associated Press, Cosby acknowledged in 2005 that he intended to give Quaaludes, a powerful sedative that renders users immobile and in a dreamy state, to young women with whom he wanted to have sex, writes the news outlet. He has been accused for years of sexually assaulting and drugging women. He has never been criminally charged.

From The Washington Post:

“The stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct, is a matter as to which the AP — and by extension the public — has a significant interest,” the judge wrote…

The occasion for Cosby’s talk about black parents’ failures was an NAACP awards ceremony in Washington on May 17, 2004 — no less an occasion than the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court decision ruling school segregation illegal that paved the way for the civil rights victories of the 1960s.

Here is what Cosby said in 2004:

“Looking at the incarcerated, these are not political criminals,” Cosby said. “These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake! Then we all run out and are outraged: ‘The cops shouldn’t have shot him.’ What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?”

After the judge’s ruling, more and more businesses are distancing themselves from Cosby, the once-model TV dad from The Cosby ShowThe Orlando Sentinel reports that Disney will remove a statue of Cosby from its Hollywood Studios theme park.

And the Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday that it is conducting at least one current criminal investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Cosby, the department told NPR‘s Mandalit del Barco.

Cosby has not spoken out about the charges or deposition. Should he speak out? Sound off in the comments.

SOURCE: The Washington Post, the Orlando Sentinel, NPR | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

SEE ALSO:

“Completely Disgusting:” Jill Scott, One Time Supporter Of Bill Cosby, Now Refuses To Defend Comedian

Bill Cosby Admits To Obtaining Drugs To Give To Women For Sex

Bill Cosby Fights Against Release Of ‘Terribly Embarrassing’ Court Documents