Did an unnamed woman admit she was paid to frame Bill Cosby with rape? No, that's not true: a South African website copied an old conspiracy article from NewsPunch/YourNewsWire but the theory it comes up with does not make sense from a timing perspective. It also relies on unnamed sources that can't be verified.
The story recently went viral again via an article published by Abasiki Bebunda on February 26, 2019 titled "Woman admits she was paid to frame Cosby with rape" (archived here) which opened:
It is a crime to be black, successful and rich. A Hollywood insider has come forward alleging that Bill Cosby was framed with rape allegations in order to prevent him from buying TV network NBC...
Cosby, known as "America's Dad", is standing trial for aggravated sexual assault in Pittsburgh, and has responded to allegations that he drugged and sexually abused women with fierce denials.
The Hollywood insider says that Bill Cosby became such a threat to the establishment elite that they had to invent the vilest of accusations against him in order to destroy his career.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Woman admits she was paid to frame Cosby with rape
It is a crime to be black, successful and rich. A Hollywood insider has come forward alleging that Bill Cosby was framed with rape allegations in order to preve...
The entire article was copied from this June 14, 2017 NewsPunch (formerly YourNewsWire) article, archived here:
Hollywood Insider: Bill Cosby Framed By Elite To Stop Him Buying NBC
Hollywood insider has come forward alleging that Bill Cosby was framed with rape allegations in order to prevent him from buying TV network NBC. Cosby, known as "America's Dad", is standing trial for aggravated sexual assault in Pittsburgh, and has responded to allegations that he drugged and sexually abused women with fierce denials.
But the mysterious "Hollywood insider" is not named and no proof is offered of which women were paid or even how much. The heart of the conspiracy theory is found in these paragraphs:
But why? And why make these allegations now? The star says Bill Cosby, NBC's biggest star of the 80's, was trying to buy the television network from its current owner, the General Electric Company.
Norman Brokaw, the chief executive of the William Morris Agency and Mr. Cosby's personal agent for 30 years, confirmed that he had discussed Cosby's intention to make an offer for NBC with Robert C. Wright, the network's president. Illuminati leaders who control NBC would lose control of the television company if Bill Cosby purchased it and the only way to stop the purchase was to ruin Bill Cosby.
They concocted the fake rape allegations.
It is indeed true that there once was talk about Bill Cosby buying NBC from General Electric, but that happened in the early nineties, you can read more about it in this 1993 story from Vanity Fair:
Bill Cosby's Campaign to Take Over NBC
He's television royalty, but Bill Cosby thinks the medium is less than cool. Now, having confounded the so-called media insiders and thrilled the restless sharks in the mergers-and-acquisitions pool, Cos is poised to make a serious attempt at taking over NBC. Powerful, socially aware, and "way out there," he's entertainment's Ross Perot.
However nothing ever came of it and NBC was eventually sold to Comcast in 2013:
Comcast to buy GE's 49 pct stake in NBCUniversal
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Comcast said Tuesday that it's buying General Electric's 49 percent stake in the NBCUniversal joint venture for $16.7 billion several years early, as the company takes advantage of low borrowing costs and what CEO Brian Roberts called a "very attractive price."
The first criminal complaint for rape against Cosby dates from 2015, you can read it here: https://www.montcopa.org/DocumentCenter/View/10048/Criminal-Complaint---William-Cosby
Cosby was eventually convicted in 2018:
Bill Cosby sentenced to three to 10 years in prison for sexual assault
A judge sentenced the 81-year-old comedian for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004
It would be a very weird conspiracy indeed that tried to derail a 1993 deal by making up rape charges in 2015 which then turned out to be so realistic that a jury was convinced by the supporting evidence and declared Cosby guilty in 2018.
YourNewsWire has published several hoaxes and fake news articles in the past so anything they write or publish should be taken with a large grain of salt. Their Facebook page "The People's Voice" recently lost its verification checkmark according to a report from MMFA.
The Terms of Use of the site also make it clear they don't really stand behind the accuracy of any of their reporting:
THE PEOPLE'S VOICE, INC. AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED ON THE SITE FOR ANY PURPOSE.
The site was profiled in the Hollywood reporter where it was described as:
Your News Wire, a 3-year-old website of murky facts and slippery spin, is published by Sean Adl-Tabatabai and Sinclair Treadway -- a Bernie Sanders supporter in 2016 -- out of an apartment in L.A.'s historic El Royale.
RationalWiki described it as:
YourNewsWire (styled as YourNewsWire.com[1]) is an Los Angeles-based clickbait fake news website known for disseminating conspiracy theories and misleading information, contrary to its claimed motto ("News. Truth. Unfiltered").[1]
A while ago we also reported that YourNewsWire had rebranded itself as NewsPunch by changing its domain name in an apparent effort to evade filtering/blocking
