What was that about Bill Cosby now? Ten women? Fifteen?
A former Playboy Club waitress is the latest woman to come forward with accusations that she was drugged and raped by Bill Cosby — and she says there are at least 12 more.
According to P.J. Masten, who worked as a “bunny manager” at Playboy’s Chicago club in 1979, she was one of at least 13 Playboy Club waitresses who were sexually assaulted by Cosby when the married comedian was a regular at the club.
“[There are] 12 former bunnies that I know of that are ashamed to come forward, frightened to come forward, married with families, don’t want to come forward.” Masten told CNN‘s Alisyn Camerota. “But they were also drugged and raped by Bill Cosby.”
They don’t want to come forward? But I thought it was such fun to report being drugged and raped by a big star man.
The details of Masten’s story echo the more than 20 public accusations against Cosby that depict assaults dating back to the 1970s. After offering to take Masten out to dinner, Cosby asked her if she wanted a cocktail in his room beforehand, preparing a glass of Grand Marnier and ice. “The next thing I knew,” Masten says, “it was 4 o’clock in the morning. I woke up in a bed naked, bruised. He was laying next to me, and I slithered out of the bed … I got myself together, I went downstairs, I got in a cab, and went home.”
Masten told CNN that she knew exactly what had happened to her while she was out. “I knew I was raped. There were bruise marks all over me. I knew I was raped by him.”
Updating to add next para which explains the title. I thought I’d included it in the post, but I hadn’t.
She says that she told her supervisor at the Playboy Club about the assault, but her allegations fell on deaf ears. “She said to me, ‘You know that’s [Hugh Hefner’s] best friend, right?'” Masten said. “I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘Well, nobody is going to believe you. I suggest you keep your mouth shut.'”
But he was Hefner’s bestie. She was told to keep quiet about it.
It was only after connecting with other former bunnies on Facebook that Masten realized she wasn’t the only one with horror stories about Cosby. “A couple of [them] private messaged me and said, ‘He did me too. It happened to me, too.'” At least a dozen, by Masten’s count, remain silent.
This brings the number of women who have either publicly or privately accused Cosby of assaulting them to 33.
Thirty-three.
We will never know how many women he raped, how many were told to be silent because he is a powerful celebrity well-loved by all.
So does the 33 include the silent dozen, or no?
Dan @2
From the OP:
1 + 20 + 12 = 33
What difference does it make? Are you making book on the final tally?
What difference does it make? Are you making book on the final tally?
Well, if we were dealing with unconnected events, and there’s even a 5% false rape report rate, then the probability Cosby didn’t rape any of those women is .05^33 … or 43 zeros after the decimal point, followed by a 1.
I wonder whether the playboy mansion or clubs kept their guest-books.
Not sure why you’re bringing up Hefner specifically, and he’s stated publicly he “would never tolerate this kind of behavior, regardless of who was involved.” Since none of Cosby’s victims came forward at the time, there’s no reason to think any of them told Hef either.
he “would never tolerate this kind of behavior, regardless of who was involved.”
That appears to be why he was brought up: because apparently he may have been tolerating that kind of behavior.
….Because, of course, someone will never say one thing and do another
….Because, of course, Hugh Hefner does not have any personal stake as a business owner in this
….Because, of course, mistakes were made but I would never tolerate that mistake
….Because, of course,
our movement, my Club, my Business would never tolerate a serial rapist in its midstThe article mentions a manager referring to Cosby and Hefner being best friends. Assuming this were/is true, I can’t see, based on the article, that Hefner did anything wrong (although the manager clearly did).
Hefner’s attitude towards women was extremely romantic and rigid (in his own “free love” kind of way), so I have no trouble believing that he was unaware of what was going on and would have been appalled had he found out.
In the same way I have no trouble believing that the leaders of certain skeptical conferences were unaware of a certain person’s predilection for “topping off” wine glasses of female participants. The response after the facts became known is what separates the two.
The only thing that bothers me about this report is the fact that “bunnies” were strictly forbidden from dating club guests — it was grounds for immediate dismissal. Whether celebrities like Cosby were exceptions to this rule, I don’t know. But it’s clearly stated in the employment manual from that era. The code of conduct was pretty rigid. It’s one thing for the manager of a club to go out to dinner with a celebrity — but 12 others?
Unless the pretext was one of discussing outside modeling/acting gigs — which was allowed. That I could see happening, as in “I can get you a part on I Spy…let’s have dinner to discuss.”
The title, and Hefner – oops – I thought I’d included the relevant remark in the post, but I didn’t. Masten was advised to shut up about it because of the friendship. I’ll update the post to add that.
Added.
Not Hefner’s personal fault. On the other hand it is another example of how the star system makes things like drug-rape possible and safe for the perps.
Even Mark Whitaker’s execrable biography of Cosby, which makes no mention of the sexual assault allegations, can’t help but give some telling glimpses into Cosby’s life around that time. Speaking about Cosby’s life in the early 70s:
And it also includes this gem:
Finally, I think it’s worth noting that the Playboy Mansion is also where Cosby physically assaulted fellow comedian Tommy Smothers, punching him in the back of the head so hard that he fell to the ground. This due to a perceived insult over his variety show “Cos.”
It’s interesting that in I Spy Cosby’s character never drank. There are many scenes where Alexander Scott (Cosby) and Kelly Robinson are both offered drinks, then Robinson accepts and Scott either refuses or drinks milk. I believe this is true of Cosby’s other shows as well. It appears that Cosby was trying to make a point that drinking is bad for you. So the fact that Cosby kept a well-stocked bar everywhere he went, and pushed drinks on so many women is hypocritical at the very least, and I’d say tends to be probitive of these accusations.