Bill Cosby

William Henry Bill Cosby Jr born July 12 1937 is an American comedian actor author television producer and convicted sex offender He got his start as a nightclub standup comic before landing a starring role in the action show I Spy 19651968 After various film and television roles Cosbys greatest success came when he produced and starred in The Cosby Show 19841992 a popular sitcom that highlighted the experiences and growth of an uppermiddleclass AfricanAmerican family Due to this role he was widely dubbed Americas Dad After the show ended he produced and starred in multiple other shows and films He was a soughtafter spokesman from the 1960s until the early 2000s endorsing a number of products including JellO Kodak film Ford Texas Instruments and CocaCola Cosby has received several awards including 5 Primetime Emmy Awards 2 Daytime Emmy Awards 9 Grammy Awards 2 Golden Globe Awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to television 2002 and several honorary degrees from colleges and universities Many of his awards have been rescinded due to numerous sexual assault allegations including the 1998 Kennedy Center Honor the 2009 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and all but 10 of 72 honorary degrees The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled him as a member of the Actors Branch in May 2018 Approximately 60 women have accused Cosby of various forms of sexual assault in alleged incidents spanning from 1965 to 2008 These allegations became highly publicized in 2014 leading to several civil suits and criminal investigations for cases that had not yet reached the statute of limitations Many networks including NBC removed reruns of The Cosby Show from their schedules In April of 2018 Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in prison for multiple counts of aggravated indecent assault The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction in June 2021 due to violation of a prior prosecutorial agreement that Cosbys previous civil suit testimonyin which he admitted to giving drugs to women he wanted to have sex withwould not be used in the criminal trial He was released from prison later that month after serving almost three years of the sentence and maintains his innocence in all accusations As of August 2021 there is still one known active civil suit against Cosby