Two more women accuse Bill Cosby of drugging them

Linda Brown (centre) and Lise-Lotte Lublin (right), two alleged victims of Bill Cosby, speaking during a news conference with attorney Gloria Allred (left) on Feb 12, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. -- PHOTO: AFP
Linda Brown (centre) and Lise-Lotte Lublin (right), two alleged victims of Bill Cosby, speaking during a news conference with attorney Gloria Allred (left) on Feb 12, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. -- PHOTO: AFP

Los Angeles (Reuters) - Two more women have accused comedian Bill Cosby of drugging them decades ago when they met him as young models. One said he sexually assaulted her, as more of his performances were shelved amid an outcry from activists over similar allegations.

More than a dozen women have publicly accused Cosby, 77, of sexual misconduct in recent months, in a controversy that has tarnished the image of the actor and comedian best known as the lovable father figure on the 1980s sitcom The Cosby Show. Cosby denies the allegations of sexual assault, many of which are decades old and fall outside the statute of limitations for criminal or civil cases.

Linda Brown and Lise-Lotte Lublin came forward on Thursday (Feb 12) as the latest women to bring public accusations against Cosby at the Los Angeles office of attorney Gloria Allred, who acknowledged it was too late for them to sue Cosby.

Brown told reporters she met Cosby in 1969 in Canada and went to his hotel suite where he gave her a soft drink that caused her to black out. She said that when she woke up, she was naked next to him in bed.

"I couldn't move or speak. I felt paralysed, he flipped me over and sexually assaulted me," Brown said. "I felt like a rag doll and like a real-life blow-up doll for him."

Lublin said she met Cosby in 1989 at a hotel in Las Vegas and that he asked her to perform an improvisation on the pretext of evaluating her acting. The comedian gave her two alcoholic drinks that caused her to feel disoriented, she said.

Lublin said that a short time later, he embraced her. She said her memory of the incident was hazy and that she remembered waking up at her home in the area and not knowing how she got there.

Allred said Brown and Lublin believed Cosby drugged them, which other women in media interviews have also said happened to them in encounters with the comedian.

Cosby's lawyer has called those and similar claims "discredited" and "defamatory". His attorney did not immediately return e-mails on Thursday.

Cosby had a show scheduled for Thursday in Bakersfield, California, but in a statement earlier this week, he postponed it. His Feb 21 show at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was also cancelled by what venue officials described as the result of a mutual agreement with Cosby.

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