NEW YORK (AP) – Bill Cosby doesn’t believe allegations of infidelity prevent him from speaking out about moral issues.
In an interview that aired Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Cosby said he should be able to teach others to learn from his mistakes. He likened his mistakes to hitting a pothole while driving on a rainy road and trying to warn others to avoid the same fate.
Cosby, 67, best known as a warm, wisecracking TV dad, sparked debate last year with blunt remarks on personal responsibility aimed at the black community. In 1997, the long-married Cosby acknowledged a brief affair with the mother of Autumn Jackson, a young woman convicted of extorting him.
The entire ABC interview was set to air Wednesday on “Nightline.”
Cosby was asked if his own failures of judgment disqualify him from speaking about others.
“No,” he replied. “I couldn’t care less what you think of me as long as you begin to execute that which will save your children.”
Cosby faces a civil lawsuit filed by a former Temple University employee who alleges that he drugged and fondled her at his home in suburban Philadelphia. The woman, who now lives in her native Ontario, Canada, sued Cosby in March. She went to Canadian authorities on Jan. 13, about a year after her alleged encounter with the comedian.
When asked in the interview whether those allegations would hurt his standing on moral issues, Cosby said, “If they are not true, what happens if they are not true?”
Lawyers for Cosby, a Temple University alumnus and booster, have said Cosby considered himself a friend and mentor to the woman. Cosby denied the assault allegation but acknowledged giving her over-the-counter medication after she complained she was stressed and couldn’t sleep.
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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter was ordered into a three-month alcohol treatment program after pleading guilty to drunk driving.
Carter, 25, entered the plea Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court. The judge also ordered Carter to pay $1,200 in fines, placed him on three years’ informal probation and restricted his driving privileges for 90 days, said Deputy District Attorney Tate McCallister.
Carter, who wasn’t in court Tuesday, was pulled over March 5 in downtown Huntington Beach. He was charged with one count of driving under the influence and one count of driving with a blood alcohol level above 0.08, the legal limit.
The singer has said through his publicist that he was on prescription medication at the time “and was unaware of its interaction possibilities.”
The Backstreet Boys, whose hits include “I Want it That Way,” “Shape of My Heart” and “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely,” recently reunited after four years. Carter, the youngest of the group, released a solo album in 2002.
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PARIS (AP) – The mayor of Paris has awarded Jackie Chan an honorary medal from the city, praising the Hong Kong action star for his film career – and his smile.
“It would have been an immense pleasure just to shake your hand,” Mayor Bertrand Delanoe told Chan on Tuesday.
Delanoe called the 51-year-old director, actor and stuntman a “master of humor, of the burlesque and of self-deprecation.”
“This mayor knows everything about me!” Chan joked.
The “Rush Hour” star was in Paris for a film festival that will honor his work.
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