President Barack Obama explained Wednesday that comedian Bill Cosby would likely not be stripped of the Medal of Freedom in the wake of continued rape allegations and the emergence of an 2005 admittance of drugging women.
Obama, who made the remarks during a press conference where he spoke at length about the Iran nuclear deal, also gave his two cents on rape in general. He told American Urban Radio’s April Ryan that anyone who drugs a person and has “sex with that person” is committing a rape.
He also added that “any civilized country” should “have no tolerance for rape.”
“With respect to the Medal of Freedom, there’s no precedent for revoking a medal. We don’t have that mechanism. And, as you know, I tend to make it a policy not to comment on the specifics of cases where there might still be, if not criminal, then civil issues involved.”
“I’ll say this. If you give a woman or a man for that matter without his or her knowledge a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that’s rape. And I think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape.”