It must come as a shame to Bill Cosby’s friends and family that his life now besieged by historic allegations of sexual misconduct.

This 77-year-old African-American devoted his life to making people laugh and now, from the twilight of said life, Mr Cosby is facing multiple accusations of sexual abuse from women who claim to have had past dealings with him. The first serious allegation was made in 2002 with another in 2005, then several more in 2006 until now, in 2014, where the accusations just keep on coming; with all alleged victims demanding similar settlements in the form of…

Who remembers a few years back when the world basically drove its very own King of Pop, Mr Michael Jackson, to suicide? Granted, he didn’t actually kill himself but it was the pills he needed to take in order to deal with his chronic anxiety that did – anxiety brought about largely by accusations of sexual misconduct against children; then years later, after a number of complainants had been paid off in out of court settlements – urging more mothers to come forward with claims that Mr Jackson molested their sons as well – one such mother was heard to confess, but only once her story had come under scrutiny, that her sequence of events was utterly false; in fact her child had greatly enjoyed his time at Mr Jackson’s ranch and all she really wanted from the ordeal was…

Here I was, of the impression that rape or molestation left permanent scars on a soul but apparently all it takes to heal these wounds is…

Forgive my apparent flippancy but as I see it, sexual abuse accusations lose much of their clout when the accusers are manifestly rapacious opportunists.

…Money. That seems to be the theme. All supposed victims, of both cases, believe their solace can be found amid the folds of The Almighty Dollar.

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Rudy N Theodore

Photography by Almidi Du Lar