Comedian Damon Wayans is in hot water after going waaaaay out on a limb to support fellow comedian Bill Cosby in an interview with Power 105’s The Breakfast Club on Friday. During the course of the controversial conversation, Wayans referred to some of the more than 50 women who claim they were raped by Bill Cosby as “unrapeable” based on their appearance. And, in response to the length of time it took for some of the women to come forward, Damon joked, “How big is his penis that it gives you amnesia for 40 years?”
In the interview Damon was asked what advice he would give Bill Cosby. Here’s his response:
Tell the truth. If I was him, I would divorce my wife, give her all my money and then I would go do a deposition. I would light one of [those] three-hour cigars. I’d have some wine and maybe a Quaalude and I would just go off, because I don’t believe that he was raping. I believe he was in relationships with all of them and then he’s like, “You know what? [I’m] 78. It don’t work like that no more. I can’t get it up for any of y’all. Bye, bitches,” and then they’re like, “Oh, really? Rape!”
Damon later doubled down on his disbelief in the women’s claims. “Oh, really? Rape. Forty years—listen, how big is his penis that it gives you amnesia for 40 years?” he joked.
Host Angela Yee was quick to remind him that many of the accusers came forward years ago, but Damon quickly moved on. “But if you listen to them talk, they go, ‘Well the first time.’ The first time?” Wayans said. “B!tch, how many times did it happen? Just listen to what they’re saying.”
Damon continued digging a hole for himself:
And some of them, really, is unrapeable. I look at them and go, ‘No, he don’t want that. Get outta here!’” Look, I understand fame. I’ve lived it. Women will throw themselves at you. They just want be in your presence. There’s some that innocently will come up there, but not 40-something women. They’re not that naïve.
[The count is currently up to 52 women.]
It wasn’t a complete Cosby love fest, however. Damon was willing to admit he was capable of condemning the Cos. “Hey, if it was my daughter, then I would’ve killed Bill Cosby. But being just sitting back looking at it, I just don’t believe it. I think it’s a money hustle,” he said.
Damon was also asked about fellow black comedian Hannibal Burress, whose stand-up jokes about Cosby in 2014 were what finally got people and the media curious about these allegations that many in the comedy world knew about for decades. “I wonder how he feels, being the dude that destroyed Bill Cosby?” Damon asked rhetorically.
Damon also addressed the question of whether or not Bill Cosby is being treated differently than white celebrities like Woody Allen and Stephen Collins. Wayans had been asked about in an interview with Sway back in late 2014. “I love Bill Cosby,” Damon began. “I don’t know what happened. Only Bill knows what happened. But, until Bill say ‘Hey, this is what happened.’ I still love Bill Cosby the same way they love Woody Allen.”
Damon revealed that Cosby was instrumental in helping him out with his show. “I sat down and he was so gracious to me and David Alan Grier. I went over to his house, drank wine, kept my pants on.”
The comedian has responded to the backlash from his interview on Twitter by asking that people “Stop twisting my words.” He adds, “Watch the entire interview before u condemn me!” He also tweeted a brief clip from the interview in which he states, “For them, my heart goes out to them. For anybody that was raped by Bill Cosby, I’m sorry, and I hope you get justice.”
— Damon Wayans (@DamonkWayans) September 6, 2015
Just after Damon said the above in the interview, he added, “You other b!tches, look – ‘He gave me two pills.’ He wasn’t a doctor back then.”
Here’s the full Damon Wayans interview on The Breakfast Club:
