CNN —
Two former actresses on “The Cosby Show” are among five women who filed a lawsuit against Bill Cosby in New York state court on Monday, accusing him of decades of sexual abuse and abuse.
The 34-page lawsuit is being filed by actresses Lili Bernard and Eden Tirl, as well as Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson and Cindra Ladd. The lawsuit names as defendants Cosby and the media companies NBCUniversal Media, Kaufman Astoria Studios and The Carsey-Werner Company, which jointly ran The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992.
The lawsuit charges Cosby with assault, assault, emotional distress and false imprisonment and accuses the media outlets of negligence.
“Each plaintiff was sexually assaulted and abused in the same or a similar manner by the defendant Bill Cosby while using his power, fame and reputation, including the power, reputation and reputation bestowed upon him [the] accused … of abusing his enormous power in such a shameful, horrible way,” the lawsuit reads.
“Now these five plaintiffs have come forward to stand up for themselves and others after being sexually abused and assaulted by Bill Cosby.”
In a statement, Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt called the lawsuit “frivolous” and denied the allegations.
“As we have always said and now we see America [sic] “This is not about justice for victims of alleged sexual assault, it’s ALL about MONEY,” he wrote in a statement. “We believe that both the courts and the court of public opinion will follow the rule of law and will clear Mr Cosby of these alleged allegations. Mr. Cosby continues to vehemently deny all allegations [sic] against him and looks forward to defending himself in court.”
NBC, Carsey-Warner and Kaufman Astoria did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, passed last month, which gives adult sex abuse survivors a one-year window to sue their abusers, even if the statute of limitations on their claims has expired.
The law reflects that of the state Child Victims Act of 2019, which also opened a two-year window for child sexual abuse survivors to sue their abusers. This law resulted in about 10,600 lawsuits, including a prominent case against Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein. (Prince Andrew denied wrongdoing and agreed to settle the case.)
The idea of the flashback window is that many victims of sexual abuse take years to speak publicly about their trauma and this law would give them the opportunity to finally have their day in court.
The allegations in Monday’s lawsuit echo longstanding allegations against Cosby, the 85-year-old comedian and actor who was once known as “America’s father” for his public role as an upstanding father.
According to the lawsuit, Cosby drugged and raped Bernard, who played Mrs. Minifield on “The Cosby Show,” in New Jersey and Nevada in 1990 and at his Manhattan home in 1991. Bernard has previously spoken out about Cosby’s alleged abuse and continued to speak up the steps outside the courthouse at his criminal trials.
Tirl, who had a bit role as a police officer on “The Cosby Show,” alleges that Cosby inappropriately touched her in his dressing room in 1989 without consent. She also alleges Cosby said he “owned” NBC, the lawsuit states.
Gittens alleges that Cosby invited her to his Manhattan home in 1989 or 1990 to talk about working on “The Cosby Show,” but then drugged and sexually assaulted her.
Thompson alleges that Cosby tricked her into inappropriately touching him without her consent at his Manhattan home in 1988 at the age of 18. Ladd claims Cosby drugged her and raped her in 1969.
In 2014 and 2015, more than 50 women came forward with similar allegations that he drugged them to incapacitate them, assaulted them, and then used his wealth and position in the entertainment industry to silence them.
He was charged with sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2015 and – after a first trial ended with a hung jury – convicted in 2018 in the #MeToo movement’s first major trial. He was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison and was released in 2021 when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction on the grounds that his due process rights had been violated.
Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury found Cosby liable in a civil case brought by Judy Huth, a woman who said he sexually assaulted her as a teenager in the 1970s.