Bill Cosby Refuses To Address Rape Charges During NPR Interview

Bill Cosby is maintaining his silence about allegations of sexual assault.

The “Cosby Show” star was asked about the claims during an interview with NPR’s “Weekend Edition” last week, with the segment airing Saturday.

The 77-year-old comedian and his wife Camille were being interviewed about loaning several pieces from their African art collection for an exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum.

After a few questions about the collection, “Weekend Edition” host broached the topic of sexual assault allegations, which several women have alleged over the past three decades.

"This question gives me no pleasure, Mr. Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days," Simon said.

In response to the star’s silence, Simon adds, “You're shaking your head no. I'm in the news business. I have to ask the question. Do you have any response to those charges?”

When Cosby shakes his head again, the interviewer responds, “There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. I want to give you the chance."

When the comedian still refuses to speak, Simon awkwardly ends the interview by thanking the couple for speaking with him, with only Camille responding by saying, “thank you.”

Simon tweeted about his interview with the Cosbys after it aired on NPR.

The interview comes at a particularly difficult time in Cosby's decades-long career, as the star has received backlash in recent weeks due to the growing uproar over the allegations.

The actor’s upcoming appearance on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" has been canceled, with his spokesman David Brokaw confirming Friday night that Cosby would not appear next Wednesday as previously scheduled. He did not say why.

"Late Show" representative Kimberly Izzo-Emmet said, "We can't comment on the guest booking process." She said Regis Philbin would be the replacement guest.

Another canceled engagement, on "The Queen Latifah Show" on Oct. 30, was characterized by that show as a postponement granted at Cosby's request.

Barbara Bowman, one of Cosby's accusers, has recently leveled allegations of sexual assault by the comic in interviews and in a Washington Post online column, writing that "Cosby won my trust as a 17-year-old aspiring actress in 1985, brainwashed me into viewing him as a father figure, and then assaulted me multiple times."

Cosby's "meme me" social media campaign backfired earlier this week when many people used the meme generator to blast him about the accusations.

The standup comedian Hannibal Buress also brought heat on Cosby at a performance in Philadelphia last month. His routine, during which he assailed Cosby as "a rapist," was captured on video and posted online, gaining wide exposure.

The 77-year-old Cosby, who was never criminally charged in any of the cases, settled a civil suit in 2006 with another woman over an alleged incident two years before.

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