Embattled US comic Bill Cosby has finally broken his silence with media, telling a news outlet that he is now blind and has been working on new comedy material he hopes he'll one day have a chance to perform.
The 79-year-old is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault after he allegedly drugged and raped Temple University staffer Andrea Constand in January 2004.
His trial is due to begin in early June, and is the only criminal case he is facing despite dozens of women coming forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct in 2015. Most of those have been left dormant as they have gone beyond the statute of limitations.
Cosby has spoken to the media just weeks out from the trial, likely in an attempt to create news stories about him that aren't negative - something his lawyers say have been in short supply.
He spoke with the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a conglomerate of African-American-owned news outlets, to talk about his dream to one day return to the stage as a comic.
"I miss it all and I hope that day will come. I have some routines and storytelling that I am working on," Cosby said.
"I think about walking out on stage somewhere in the United States of America and sitting down in a chair and giving the performance that will be the beginning of the next chapter of my career."
Cosby, who also revealed he is now blind, did not talk about any of the details of his impending sexual assault case - though he did feed into the racial undertones of his impending trial in the interview.
"The history about African-Americans is a history of the United States; but the true histories, not the propaganda that is standard in our nation's history books," Cosby told the newspaper group.
"The great writer, James Baldwin, said, 'If you lie about me, then you lie about yourself.' The revolution is in the home. There is something about someone saying, 'I didn't know that,' that could cause a change in that person's thinking."
Last week US rapper Snoop Dogg said former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, who was forced out of his role after a string of sexual harassment complaints against him, should be treated like Bill Cosby has been.
He said "they sweat Bill Cosby but they let [O'Reilly] go on vacation", which he deemed to be an example of white privilege.
Newshub.
