Bill Cosby's attorney has taken aim at Fordham University bosses for the "irresponsible" explanation they released after stripping the disgraced comedian of his honorary degree.
The funnyman was handed the award by New York school officials in 2001, but last week, members of the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to take back the title in light of the ongoing allegations of sexual assault.
They revealed the decision was primarily based on the leaked 2005 deposition from a sex attack lawsuit, which was made public in July. In the testimony, Cosby confessed to obtaining multiple drug prescriptions for Quaalude sedatives to give to women he wanted to have sex with.
A letter issued by Fordham President Joseph M McShane on Thursday stated, "The University has taken this extraordinary step in light of Mr Cosby's now-public court depositions that confirm many of the allegations made against him.
"By his own admission, Mr Cosby's sexual exploitation of women was premeditated and ongoing. Equally appalling is his longtime strategy of denigrating the reputations of women who accused him of such actions.
"That Mr Cosby was willing to drug and rape women for his sexual gratification, and further damage those same women's reputations and careers to obscure his guilt, hurt not only his victims, but all women, and is beyond the pale."
However, the wording of the statement riled Cosby's legal representative John P Schmitt, who has fired back at McShane with his own criticisms of the notice.
Schmitt, a Fordham Law School alumnus, blasted the university's press release as "so irresponsible as to shock the conscience", and claimed it "grossly mischaracterizes both Mr Cosby's actions and his deposition testimony, in language more befitting a tabloid journal rather than a respected institution of higher learning."
He continued, "Nothing in his testimony admits to any nonconsensual sexual contact with any woman whatsoever. As you know, Mr Cosby has been convicted of no crime and has steadfastly maintained his innocence."
Cosby lost a second honorary degree from another Jesuit school, Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Friday, just two years after he received the accolade.
The veteran actor has yet to comment on the controversy. More than 50 women have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse or inappropriate behaviour since the scandal flared up last year.
WENN.com
