President Barack Obama defined Bill Cosby’s actions as rape during a White House press conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, July 15. Cosby, an American comedian is accused of drugging and sexually violating 39 women. Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment (PAVE), a nonprofit organization is petitioning the Obama Administration to revoke Cosby of the medal.
“I'll say this, if you give a woman or a man for that matter, without his or her knowledge a drug, and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape. And I think this country, any civilized country should have no tolerance for rape,” said Obama on Wednesday.
Actresses, film executives, lawyers, models, nurses, Playmates, university employees, waitresses, and writers are included in a list of 39 female victims who came forward to say that they were sexually exploited by Cosby. The women said that Cosby slipped a drug into their drinks prior to raping them.
The names of the victims listed by Vulture are Andrea Constand, Tamara Green, Beth Ferrier, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis, Linda Joy Traitz, Janice Dickinson, Carla Ferrigno, Louisa Moritz, Theresa Serignese, Kristina Ruehli, Renita Chaney Hill, Angela Leslie, Victoria Valentino, Jewel Allison, Donna Motsinger, Judy Huth, Helen Hayes, Beverly Johnson, Chloe Goins, Kathy McKee, Linda Kirkpatrick, Cindra Ladd, Helen Gumpel, Linda Brown, Lise-Lotte Lublin, Heidi Thomas, Gloria Allred, Sunni Welles, Margie Shapiro, Janice Baker-Kinney, Marcella Tate, Autumn Burns, Sammie mays, and Lili Bernard. In addition to these women, there were other four women who kept their identities a secret and went by the names of “Chelan,” “Lisa,” “Kacey,” and “Patricia.”
"And with respect to the Medal of Freedom, there's no precedent for revoking a medal. We don't have that mechanism,” said Obama in regards to Cosby’s Medal of Freedom.
The Medal of Freedom is one of three highest civilian awards in the U.S., the other two are the Presidential Citizens Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal. Cosby was honored by the George W. Bush Administration for being “the first African American to star in a dramatic television series” and for “helping to bring people together through laughter” in 2002.
“The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest award bestowed on civilians for their contributions to society. Bill Cosby does not deserve to be on the list of distinguished recipients,” states the PAVE petition summary. “Cosby admitted to procuring drugs to have sex with women without their consent. He has been accused of serial rape by dozens of others. We cannot yet give his accusers their day in court, but we can fight back in the court of public opinion. We urge the administration to take the unprecedented action of revoking this award.”
PAVE’s petition entitled, “Revoke the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bill Cosby” is on We the People, the White House’s online petition website. The petition began on Friday, July 8 and has since gained 11,346 supporters. The group’s goal is to reach 100,000 signatures.
