Chris Rock called out Ben Roethlisberger on Tuesday night, reminding the media and the public that Bill Cosby isn’t the only celebrity whose history of rape allegations was swept under the rug.
During a media screening for his new film, Top Five, Rock called Roethlisberger “the original Cosby,” alluding to the quarterback’s history of rape allegations. Immediately after the comment, Rock realized his comment would probably catch some heat. “That’s horrible,” he said. “That’s gonna go everywhere.” (You can watch a clip of Rock’s comment at TMZ.)
Roethlisberger has faced two rape allegations in the past several years. In 2010, the NFL star was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the bathroom of a bar in Georgia. The prosecutor in that case declined to pursue criminal action. In 2008, Roethlisberger was sued by Andrea McNulty, who said the football player raped her when he was in Lake Tahoe for a celebrity golf tournament. Via USA Today Sports:
McNulty filed the suit in Washoe District Court in 2009, claiming Roethlisberger lured her into his penthouse suite and forced her to have sex. The suit also named a list of Harrah’s employees, claiming they covered up the alleged sexual assault.
[…]
McNulty claimed that Roethlisberger asked her to come to his suite to fix his broken television, the suit said. Once in the room, McNulty said he forced her on the bed and raped her, the suit said.
In Dec. 2011, all sides involved in the suit agreed to dismiss the case.
Even though it seems like an off-handed crack from Rock, it’s clear from watching the video this is something that was gnawing at Rock. It’s something he wanted to say. He wants to remind us that we’re overlooking other similar incidents and cases. And it’s definitely a fair point that while the media is zeroed in Cosby’s history of allegations, he’s certainly not the only celebrity whose history of alleged crimes against women we’ve come to limply accept.
LOVE IS DEAD. REALLY DEAD THIS TIME.
After six long years together, Freida Pinto and Dev Patel have split up. They met on the set of the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. Us Weekly reports that Pinto celebrated her recent 30th birthday without Patel, joining billionaire Siddharth Mallya instead.
BRB ERASING MENTAL PICTURE OF WHAT THEIR CHILDREN’S EYES WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE.
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Here is Saruman aka Christopher Lee doing some heavy metal Christmas songs. Enjoy it and don’t try to ask a lot of questions, OK? Just enjoy some heavy metal Christmas music. m/