Washington’s Kennedy Center Rescinds Prizes Bestowed on Bill Cosby

Kennedy Center trustees voted to rescind Bill Cosby’s Kennedy Center Honors and Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Bill Cosby’s lawyers urged an appeals court to reseal the comedian’s lurid, decade-old testimony about his womanizing. 

(Photo: AP)

The Kennedy Center trustees have voted to rescind Bill Cosby's Kennedy Center Honors and Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, two of the nation's top artistic prizes, following his sex assault conviction, the organisation said on Monday, 8 May.

“As a result of Mr Cosby’s recent criminal conviction, the Board concluded that his actions have overshadowed the very career accomplishments these distinctions from the Kennedy Center intend to recognize,” the Washington DC organisation said in a statement.

The Kennedy Center joins several US universities that have revoked honorary degrees bestowed upon the 80-year-old "The Cosby Show" star.

A Pennsylvania jury last month found the comedian guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former director of operations for the Temple University women's basketball team. Cosby had pleaded not guilty and his attorneys said they would appeal.

Last week, Hollywood's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars, expelled Cosby.

Cosby was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors, which recognise contributions to American culture, in 1998 and the Mark Twain Prize in 2009.

The moves to rescind Cosby’s distinctions come as US institutions grapple with how to respond to sexual misconduct allegations against prominent public figures they have honoured or taken money from in the past, sparked by the #MeToo social movement.

Cosby was known as "America's Dad" for his role on NBC's top-rated "The Cosby Show" in the 1980s, and was embraced by many civic, educational and artistic institutions as a figure who transcended racial divides.

A Cosby spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on the Kennedy Center decisions.

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