High-profile plaintiffs' lawyer Gloria Allred told
Newsmax TV on Friday that in addition to three women she introduced to the news media this week, others will come forward "soon" with sexual assault allegations against actor and comedian Bill Cosby.
"There are many more women who have contacted me who alleged they were victimized by Cosby," the Los Angeles-based lawyer told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner. "Some of them will be speaking out in the future."
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Allred also blasted Cosby for joking about his predicament on Thursday at a stand-up performance in Ontario, Canada. She said rape allegations are "not a laughing matter."
Cosby, according to reports, was sparring with a
female heckler in the front row who stood up in the middle of his act and said she was going to the bar for a drink.
"You have to be careful about drinking around me," Cosby reportedly said.
Allred said she was "incensed" at the quip.
"After all, as the sign that one of the protestors held up at one of the demonstrations [against Cosby] in Canada said, 'Rape is no joke,' " said Allred. "Sexual assault is no joke, and what the many, many alleged victims have said about Bill Cosby is no joke."
Cosby has categorically denied all allegations, and counts his wife, Camille Cosby, and his former co-star on "The Cosby Show,"
Phylicia Rashad, among his supporters and defenders.
But Rashad later said she was misquoted, and the number of women coming forward — many alleging they were drugged and raped — continues to increase, along with the number of civil lawsuits against Cosby.
No criminal charges have been filed to date, and the legal clock for prosecuting many of the alleged incidents has run out. Allred charged that Cosby has so far dodged his accusers, and refused to waive the
statute of limitations for civil or criminal complaints and defend himself under oath.
Asked why so many alleged victims waited so long to speak out, Allred said, "There are all kinds of reasons that women suffer in silence, and apparently Mr. Cosby is taking advantage of that."
"Maybe he thinks this is all going to go away," she said. "If he thinks that, he's wrong, because the women that came forward this week with me at a news conference were not the first and they will also not be the last. I promise you that."
Allred gave no time frame beyond "the near future," and said she could not put a number on how many more accusers she will represent "because it's just numerous, and I haven't bothered to even count how many."
"Even last night as I was in the car leaving my office, there were more and more emails coming in from persons who have alleged that they were victims of Cosby, who were disgusted by his joke, who are willing to now speak out because they just can't take it anymore," said Allred.
She also discouraged people from paying to see Cosby on tour.
"By buying tickets, they're helping Cosby to make a profit, and he can take that profit and he can plow it back in to paying his attack dogs in his defense team, the investigators, to try to discredit and undermine the alleged victims who come forward," she said.
"Whether or not you believe these women, why take the risk of helping him to gain more profits so that he can use them to hurt women?" said Allred.