Bill Cosby's Second Trial Kicks Off With Topless Woman Trying to Confront Him

Comedian Bill Cosby spent years on our televisions as the ideal dad. The Cosby Show transcended race and made all of America love the Huxtable clan.

Off camera, he’s been accused of some horrific behavior. His first trial ended in a hung jury, but the district attorney was not about to let a laundry list of rape charges go without a verdict. So Cosby is back in court this week, being retried.

Outside the courtroom, however, a topless protester whom the NY Daily News identified as an actress who had a bit part on the ’80s family sitcom tried to confront the Jell-O pitchman:

The topless protester jumped over a barricade to run in front of Bill Cosby, but she did not make contact with the comedian. https://t.co/eAmJYTrlXq pic.twitter.com/4gdwrkrT9D

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) April 9, 2018

Nicolle Rochelle, the protester, told the Daily News: “I just wanted him to feel my presence and to feel uncomfortable. I didn’t want him to just walk like, ‘La-di-da, it’s a normal day. I have my regular dignity, and I did nothing.”

I get her outrage. Cosby is accused of being a monster, someone who drugged women to rape them. But if he’s really a serial sexual predator, why confront him topless? What’s the message there? What was Rochelle’s thought process?

“This guy is a sexual predator who takes advantage of women he’s drugged, someone who risked his fortune, freedom, and reputation on his perverse appetites. I’ll yell and show my boobs. “

Bill Cosby isn’t more likely to confess to any crimes because of this. If he’s the sexual monster he’s accused of being, it’s possible that Rochelle’s protest brought him some glee.

You don’t combat sexual objectification of women by objectifying women. You don’t punish an alleged sexual predator by confronting him topless.

Such protests have been astoundingly common in recent years; see the insanity of the Slut Walk, for instance. How about — instead of protests that apparently make the protester feel “empowered” yet accomplishing nothing — we support the alleged victims by letting the media focus on them as they get their day in court?