Judd Apatow Slams Bill Cosby After Revelations in Unsealed Court Documents: 'When You Go Out on a Date, You Don't Need Seven Prescriptions for Quaaludes'

"I think we all should be very hesitant about getting involved in anything. But when it's 40 people, it certainly is time for everybody to wake up," Apatow said on the Today show

Photo: Inset: Ethan Miller/Getty

Judd Apatow has been vocal about condemning Bill Cosby over the countless sexual assault claims against the comedian. And a week after unsealed court documents from 2005 revealed Cosby obtained drugs to provide to women before having sex with them, Apatow has spoken out again, calling the scandal “one of the most tragic things that’s happened in our business.”

The 47-year-old writer-director sat down with Today anchor Willie Geist on Monday to promote his upcoming comedy Trainwreck, but he struck a more serious note during the conversation when asked about the television icon’s spiraling legal drama. Cosby’s lawyer, Marty Singer, has denied the allegations of sexual assault, saying in a statement in November after multiple accusers spoke out against the actor: “This is utter nonsense. People coming out of nowhere with this sort of inane yarn is what happens in a media-driven feeding frenzy.”

“You have been – whether you wanted this role or not in our society – you’ve been the leading voice going after Bill Cosby in the wake of all these allegations by women against him. Is that something you did consciously?” Geist asked.

“Not really, but I just kept noticing that no one else was saying that this was a bad thing, and there was just such a giant vacuum. I would have loved to not talk about it, but it’s incredibly sad,” Apatow explained. “And I do think we have to stand up for the women and say, ‘We believe you.’ ”

And as for Cosby, the Girls producer said, “We don’t have to worry about him.”

“A lot of people got terribly hurt. When you go out on a date, you don’t need seven prescriptions for quaaludes. I’m in show business. Famous people can meet women without the enormous prescriptions,” Apatow continued.

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“I think we all should be very hesitant about getting involved in anything. But when it’s 40 people, it certainly is time for everybody to wake up and say, ‘We should be concerned about the women.’ ”

Apatow also recently asked that Cosby’s loyal defenders instead turn their support to the sex-assault victims now that there is concrete evidence uncovered in court excerpts from the 2005 case, in which he was accused by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand of drugging her and sexually assaulting her. (In 2005 and 2006, PEOPLE investigated Constand’s allegations and interviewed numerous accusers. Through his longtime publicist, Cosby responded that he had no comment at the time.)

On Thursday, Apatow issued a series of Tweets directed at Whoopi Goldberg, asking her to accept the legal facts of the scandal rather than try to remain a “loyal friend” to Cosby.

Apatow’s friend and colleague Lena Dunham also spoke out in support of his comments, Tweeting on Sunday, “I love knowing an angry hairy feminist like @JuddApatow !”

“It takes Hollywood far too long to believe survivors, and even longer to stop defending the men who make the money. A simple and sad truth,” she continued in a separate Tweet.

A Chicago-based rape-survivor group has launched a White House petition encouraging the Obama administration to revoke Cosby’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, a coveted honor bestowed on individuals for their contributions to society.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday, “I don’t know at this point whether or not it’s possible,” when asked if the administration could in fact rescind Cosby’s 2002 medal. (It would be unprecedented to revoke a Medal of Freedom award.)