Five women have filed a lawsuit against former entertainer and comedian Bill Cosby (85) in New York State. Cosby are accused in the civil lawsuit, among other things, of sexual assault and sexual abuse. The lawsuit is also directed against the media group NBCUniversal Media, which broadcast the sitcom "The Bill Cosby Show" from 1984 to 1992. According to the lawsuit, NBC and the production companies Kaufman Astoria Studios and Carsey-Werner Television are "compliments" in the attacks, as reported by The Guardian.

The New York Adult Survivors Act has been in effect in the state of New York since the end of November. That's what made Lili Bernard, Eden Tirl, Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson and Cindra Ladd's lawsuit possible in the first place. According to the lawsuit, each of Cosby's five wives was said to have been sexually abused or assaulted after meeting the then-star on the set of The Bill Cosby Show or in entertainment circles between the late 1960s and 1990s.

According to the lawsuit, NBC broadcaster facilitated the sexual assault. "It was well known that Bill Cosby would regularly take young women into his dressing room," said victim attorney Jordan Rutsky. "It was an open secret that Bill Cosby did these things." The US broadcaster NBC and the two production companies mentioned have looked the other way in order to continue to benefit from the enormous success of the "Bill Cosby Show".

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Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in prison for sexual assault in 2018, but was unexpectedly released in 2021 after around three years in prison. The 2018 verdict was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court due to a procedural error and Cosby was released the same day. In this case, charges cannot be brought again.