“I can finally lay down my shield and sword for a while,” she said. “I’m a little weary and feel battered, but right now I’m thrilled.”
The jury convicted Mr. Cosby of aggravated indecent assault against Ms. Constand, at the time a Temple University employee he had mentored. But during the trial, Ms. Constand became something of a proxy for the many other women who have accused Mr. Cosby of similar sexual misconduct. His first trial ended in a hung jury last June.
Lili Bernard, who said she was drugged and raped while guest starring on “The Cosby Show” in the early ’90s, was ebullient: “I feel like my faith in humanity is restored.”
She said the verdict was “a victory for all sexual assault survivors, female and male. It’s a victory for womanhood.”
Donna Motsinger, who said Mr. Cosby drugged and assaulted her in 1972, said the verdict felt less a victory for her personally than for Ms. Constand, who has become a close friend.
“It took one woman, one courageous, tenacious woman, to bring a criminal to justice,” Ms. Motsinger said. “Sometimes the justice system doesn’t work. But it worked because of her.”
She continued: “It’s not really about me. I didn’t process it for me. I’m still processing that it can still happen. One person can make a difference.”
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Other reaction
Bounce TV, an Atlanta-based network programmed primarily for African-American audiences and one of the few networks that still showed reruns of “The Cosby Show,” said on Thursday it would immediately pull the show from its schedule.
It was the second time Bounce TV agreed to take Mr. Cosby off the air. In July 2015, the network stopped airing reruns after he admitted to drugging women, but started running them again in December 2016.
A spokesman for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, where Mr. Cosby is featured in a gallery called “Taking the Stage,” declined to comment on whether it would make any changes in light of the verdict. Before the museum’s opening in September 2016, several women who accused Mr. Cosby of sexual assault complained that the museum did not plan to mention their accusations, which the museum later added.
On Twitter, the National Organization for Women said that “justice was served today.”
“This is a notice to sexual predators everywhere,” the organization said.
Rose McGowan, an actress who has accused Harvey Weinstein of assaulting her and who has been a vocal advocate in the #MeToo movement, celebrated the result on Twitter.
Cosby is guilty. I’m sorry if you loved a lie. His victims can now exhale. Thank you judge and jury. Thank you society for waking up.
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) April 26, 2018
Lisa Bloom, a lawyer who represented one of Mr. Cosby’s accusers, said on Twitter it was “justice delayed, but justice delivered.”
Bill Cosby GUILTY on all 3 counts.
THANK YOU Montgomery County prosecutors and police.
Andrea Constand.
Janice Dickinson.
All the women who testified.
All 60 who have spoken out about Cosby.
All who have supported them.
The day has come. Justice delayed, but justice delivered.— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) April 26, 2018
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Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/26/arts/television/cosby-guilty-verdict-reactions.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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