Supreme Court refuses to hear defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby

Actress Kathrine McKee filed a defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby after the man allegedly raped her in 1974 and then damaged her reputation.

According to McKee, she was one of the alleged multiple Cosby victims in the 70s but, to make things worse for her, the man’s lawyer leaked a letter in December 2014 in which he called her a liar and a criminal.

The actress and her lawyers requested her case to be taken up “at this historical moment,” pointing out that McKee had not been involved in any public controversy and had kept her privacy about the incident.

HER LAWYER’S STATEMENT

“A person who decries sexual misconduct should not be stripped of the protections of private figure statue, such that she has virtually no recourse to protect her reputation through a defamation lawsuit. McKee should not be victimized twice over,” they wrote.

Even though McKee and her attorneys hoped that her lawsuit had an important impact, the Supreme Court tossed it out, claiming that the events didn't meet the standards of the New York Times v. Sullivan case.

The New York Times v. Sullivan case of 1964 set clear that a public figure must demonstrate that a person made a false statement with “actual malice” in order to win a defamation case.

IT WAS NOT A DEFEAT

In an interview McKee had with USA Today, she admitted to being disappointed because of she lost her case but glad because “justice has been served” as Cosby has been in a Pennsylvania prison since last year.

"I lost, but personally I don't see it that way because he is paying for his crimes. The bottom line is Cosby is being held accountable and that was the reason for me coming out in the first place," pointed out McKee.

COSBY: A POLITICAL PRISONER

The disgraced actor is currently serving three to ten years for the drugging and the sexual assault of Andrea Constand. Serving his time at SCI Phoenix maximum-security prison, Cosby sees himself as a political prisoner.

“My political beliefs, my actions of trying to humanize all races, genders, and religions landed me in this place surrounded by barb wire fencing, a room made of steel and iron. So, I now have a temporary residence that resembles the quarters of some of the Greatest Political Prisoners - Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Randal Robinson, and Dr. Benjamin Chavis,” read the statement.