Kathie Lee Gifford says Bill Cosby tried to kiss her back in the 1970s.
It’s getting to the point where it might be easier to list the women this guy hasn’t been inappropriate with.
Gifford — who, ironically, has been one of Cosby’s staunchest defenders the past few weeks, according to the New York Daily News — said Tuesday on “Today” that the scandal-plagued comic tried playing some tonsil hockey with her in the 1970s, while he was married.
At the time, Gifford and her backup singers were opening for Cosby on a tour. She was quick to note how Cosby treated them with “great kindness and generosity” during the two years they performed together.
“I, along with so many Americans and people around the world, don’t want these (accusations) to be true,” Gifford said. “I will admit toward the end of the tour the last time I saw him he did try to kiss me.
“I said, ‘No,’ I said, ‘Bill, we’re friends.’
“He said, ‘OK, good night,’ and I said, ‘Good night.’ I went into my room and he went into his room.”
Gifford also said Cosby brewed three cappuccinos for her and her singers every time they got off stage at the end of their set, which now gives her a “chill” in the wake of claims by supermodel Beverly Johnson and others that Cosby either tried to or did rape them after spiking their drinks with drugs.
“I’m not saying these women’s allegations are not true,” said Gifford. “From my own personal experiences, it didn’t happen.”
Gifford’s comments came a day after Cosby’s wife, Camille, ripped the media for reporting on the accusations, comparing it to the way Rolling Stone magazine mishandled the now unproven University of Virginia rape allegations.
More than two dozen women have said the now 77-year-old comedian sexually molested them, going back to the late ’60s.
Tony Hicks writes celebrity commentary for the Bay Area News Group. Contact him at Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.TonyHicks or Twitter.com/tonyhicks67
