Bill Cosby Sues Beverly Johnson for Defamation – As Another Accuser Comes Forward

Cosby claims that Johnson is trying to resuscitate her career with the media attention she's receiving from her allegations

Photo: Brennan Linsley/AP

Bill Cosby has added Beverly Johnson to the list of seven other women who he is suing for defamation.

In a tweeted statement, Cosby’s lawyer revealed on Monday that the lawsuit was brought against Johnson, 63, “for her false, malicious, opportunistic and defamatory accusations that Mr. Cosby drugged her.”

The statement continues, saying that the former model’s allegations are an attempt to “resuscitate her own career” and gain finances from the attention she’s receiving in the media.

Johnson came forward in an interview with Vanity Fair and also details her alleged encounter with Cosby in her new memoir.

Through his lawyer, the 78-year-old actor is asking for “compensatory and punitive damages, a permanent injunction enjoining [the] defendant from continuing to publish her defamatory statements, and an injunction requiring [the] defendant to publically issue a statement and press release retracting and correcting her defamatory statements.”

The release also asks that the actress remove the chapter about Cosby from her book.

Johnson responded to the comments in a statement to PEOPLE.

“I am aware of the statements from Bill Cosby. In cases of rape and abuse, abusers will do whatever they can to intimidate and weaken their victims to force them to stop fighting,” she said. “I ask for your support of all of the victims involved. Thank you.

As Johnson joins the list of accusers Cosby has sued – including Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie – another accuser has stepped forward, alleging that Cosby raped her in the 70s.

35 Bill Cosby Accusers Tell Their Stories to New York Magazine: ‘Who the Hell Would Have Believed Me?’

TMZ reports that Sammy Davis Jr.’s ex-girlfriend Katherine McKee claims the former Cosby Show star attacked her in his hotel room in Detroit, three years after her 1971 appearance on The Bill Cosby Show.

The victim reportedly says that when she went to the room, Cosby greeted her in a robe and then took off her underwear and raped her while they stood by the door.

Although the statute of limitations for rape has passed, she is suing for defamation after she reportedly told her story to the New York Daily News in 2014, but was called a liar by Cosby’s lawyer.