Bill Cosby discusses ‘the rape thing’ in previously unreleased 2011 interview

Previously unreleased audio of Bill Cosby discussing rape and molestation in a 2011 interview has surfaced online, with the embattled comedian calling rape "a form of bullying."

Filmmaker Cassidy McMillan conducted the interview as part of Bullies & Friends, a proposed documentary that revolves around school bullying — a topic about which Cosby has been vocal in the past.

But while the interview ostensibly revolved around the bullying of elementary school-aged children, Cosby almost immediately steered the conversation to molestation and "the rape thing."

"It was supposed to be an innocuous interview," McMillan told Radar. "Instead, it turned into something else with Mr. Cosby offering varied statements and stories about rape."

In a three-minute clip released from the reported 60-minute interview, Cosby begins by discussing a case in Compton in which an 11-year-old girl was raped. In that incident, Cosby refers to rape as "a form of bullying":

The incident in Compton where these boys raped this girl. That, to me, is a form of bullying, and it's something that you get a terrible taste in your mouth. I don't want to put things on a level, but a group of males descending upon another human being in an act of violent, physical trauma — sexual abuse, molestation — is at a level of…I don't even want to berate animals because animals are not taught better."

Similarly, Cosby relayed the story of "a young lady" he knew who was raped:

I remember a young lady that I knew who was raped and she came home and reported it, and her father blamed her for it and would hear nothing of going after the boy.

"We're talking about human beings who enjoy doing this," Cosby added.

Following that anecdote, Cosby addressed "the rape thing" as a topic overall, calling it "annoying" and "sickening." Additionally, he criticized "those with authority who are supposed to look into situations like this":

But the rape thing, this rape thing, is annoying. It is sickening. The suicide, the act which drives a person to suicide, and then what is nauseating is the excuse given by those with authority who are supposed to look into situations like this seriously. For them to say they didn't know because they know that the correct answer and the truthful one — which is what I mean what I say correct — is that 'I really didn't think it was important.'

McMillan, for her part, says she has released the audio of her interview with Cosby because she feels she has "an ethical obligation to do so." She has since appeared on attorney Gloria Allred's radio show, KABC Courtroom 790, to discuss the interview.

Dozens of women to date have accused Cosby of sexual assault, with accusations dating back to 1965. Cosby has continually issued denials through his representatives.

[Radar]