Bill Cosby Retrial: Former ‘Cosby Show’ Actress Protests Topless

On the morning of April 9th, 2018 — a topless protester charged after Bill Cosby as he arrived at his sexual-assault retrial. The woman jumped over a crowd barrier and yelled “Women’s lives matter” and “Bill Cosby is a rapist” before being wrestled to the ground by deputies.

Nicolle Rochelle, an actress and activist from New Jersey, told People, that she wanted to make Cosby feel “uncomfortable” on his first day of court.

“This case is being publicized with this narrative of race. He’s being painted as the victim;” Rochelle continues, “I wanted to emphasize that this is about rape. I wanted to make him uncomfortable and to make people think about women’s bodies.”

Rochelle had the names of some of the women who have accused Mr. Cosby of assault written on her torso. She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after protesting outside of the Pennsylvania courthouse.

Opening addresses in the trails were also delayed, because the judge held a closed-door hearing focusing on whether one of the jurors selected, had made a statement that the defendant may be guilty.

The New York Times reported about a dozen other protesters also demonstrated outside of the courthouse. Cosby is the first high-profile sexual assault trial of the #MeToo era.

According to Rolling Stone, Cosby is being charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former women’s basketball coach at Temple University, in 2004. More than 50 women have accused Cosby of either drugging and/or sexually assaulting them; however he has denied all claims.