Disgraced American entertainer Bill Cosby is to return to the stage for the first time in nearly three years Monday, just months before his scheduled retrial for alleged sexual assault. The 80-year-old pioneering African American actor and comedian will take part in a special performance honouring drummer and jazz great, Tony Williams, at the LaRose Jazz Club in Philadelphia, his spokesman said. Cosby “will honour his fans with a historic performance” with the Tony Williams Jazz Quartet and “will be performing a special comedy concert,” at the public event, the announcement said. It marks the first time Cosby is to perform in public since May 2015, when CNN reported that he was interrupted twice in Atlanta after a string of women had already come forward to accuse him of sexual assault. Cosby’s new defense lawyer is Tom Mesereau, the celebrity Los Angeles attorney who got Michael Jackson acquitted of child molestation in 2005.

Source: Punch January 22, 2018 23:37 UTC