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Whoopi Goldberg has 'a lot of questions' for Cosby accusers

Yesterday's episode of The View began with a discussion of the perpetually mounting sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby following the comedian's refusal over the weekend to address them on NPR.

Yesterday's episode of The View began with a discussion of the perpetually mounting sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby following the comedian's refusal over the weekend to address them on NPR.

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg emerged as a strong skeptic of vocal accusers like Barbara Bowman, even inviting her on the show.

"Quite honesty, you know, look, I'm sorry, having been on both sides of this where people allege that you do something, it doesn't matter now," Goldberg told her View co-hosts. "The cat is out of the bag, people have it in their heads. I have a lot of questions for the lady. Maybe she'll come on."

Goldberg also questioned Bowman's decision to go to a lawyer rather than the police, saying "perhaps the police might've believed it." Additionally, she wondered aloud why a rape kit wasn't utilized in Bowman's case.

"Or the hospital, where you go, and don't you do a kit when you say someone has raped you? Isn't that the next step once you make an allegation?"

Rosie O'Donnell confirmed Goldberg's question, saying that rape kits are usually performed for women reporting sexual assaults. However, as Salon notes, the Violence Against Women Act mandated rape kits in 2005, and the law didn't actually do into effect until much later in 2009. Indeed, rape kits have only been recommended since around 1999—more than a decade after Bowman say she was raped in the 1980s.

"I hope that there is justice for this lady. I hope somebody gets to the bottom of this," Goldberg later said. "But I'm going to reserve my judgment because I have a lot of questions, as I said. It's crazy, but I have a lot of questions, because I know we all have friends who have gone through this."

Goldberg also referred to Cosby's situation and ones like it as "awkward," which likely is the understatement of 2014—one that co-host Nicole Wallace picked up on.

"It's more than awkward, it's a tragedy!" Wallace said. "Either 13 women were raped by someone too powerful to face the criminal justice system or an innocent man is being falsely accused."

Goldberg, however, appeared unphased, saying that "one of the things that getting accused of when you're famous does is it opens the door for everybody to come out and say, 'me too, boss.'"

Goldberg, it should be noted, also defended director Roman Polanski more than five years ago, saying that his statutory rape of Samantha Gailey was "not rape-rape."

[Mediaite]