Late Wednesday the Associated Press released video of a Nov. 6 interview in which comedian and TV icon Bill Cosby responded to a reporter’s question about a series of sexual assault allegations made against him by saying, “No, no, we don’t answer that.”
Cosby appeared in the video with his wife, Camille, to discuss the art collection that the couple recently loaned to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.
When AP’s reporter asked if Mr. Cosby “wanted to respond at all about whether any of that was true,” the comedian shook his head and said, “There’s no response.” And when the reporter went on to ask, “With the persona that people know about Bill Cosby, should [the comedian’s audience] believe anything differently?” the comedian replied:
“There’s no comment about that. And I’ll tell you why. I think you were told—I don’t want to compromise your integrity—but we don’t, I don’t talk about it.”
When the Q&A ended, the interview camera was still rolling, and Mr. Cosby, who was still speaking into a live microphone, asked, “Now, can I get something from you—that none of that will be shown?” In response, the reporter says, “I can’t promise that myself, but … you didn’t say anything.”
Cosby went on to request that the portion of the interview dealing with the allegations be “scuttled” and added, “I think that if you want to consider yourself as serious, then it will not appear anywhere.”
At the end of the video, though, the narrator notes that AP “made the decision to publish Cosby’s full reaction,” since the interview was “on record” and the news service “made no agreement to avoid questions about the allegations.”
The release of the video follows an interview with the Cosbys that aired Saturday on NPR, in which the comedian was said to merely shake his head “no” to questions about the allegations. Since then, three new accusers have come forward with sexual assault accounts, Netflix and NBC have put upcoming Cosby projects on hold and TV Land announced that it will no longer air The Cosby Show reruns in syndication.
Here’s the full video released by AP: