Bill Cosby is finally speaking out about allegations that he sexually assaulted dozens of women
In a taped interview with ABC's "Good Morning America," the embattled comedian was asked how he would respond if a youngster pressed him on accusations that he drugged and sexually assaulted a number of women over a period of decades.
"I think many of them say, 'Well, you're a hypocrite. You say one thing, you say the other,'" he replied. "My point is, 'OK, listen to me carefully. I'm telling you where the road is out. You want to go here or you want to be concerned about who is giving you the message?'"
Cosby, 77, has never been criminally charged and has largely maintained his silence since the allegations resurfaced starting last year. He faces two pending lawsuits.
"I have been in this business 52 years. ... I've never seen anything like this. And reality is the situation," he said, adding, "and I can't speak."
Cosby was asked if he was concerned about his legacy and what he'd like it to be.
"I really know about what I'm going to do tomorrow. I have a ton of ideas to put on television about people and their love for each other," he said.
The actor and comedian was in Alabama to speak with high school students as part of a nonprofit foundation's campaign to improve education in the south-central part of the state.
He volunteered his time to bring exposure to area schools, Black Belt Community Foundation President Felecia Lucky has said. He was to meet students at Selma High School on Friday before marching with them across the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Sitting with Cosby during the ABC interview, Lucky defended the decision to trade on his fame despite the allegations.
"At the end of the day, what is most important is ... how do we make sure that the world knows that the Black Belt children matter," Lucky said. The region is named for its fertile black soil but is stifled by low income and high unemployment.
Shortly after the scandal broke last year, NBC decided not to move forward with a planned Cosby sitcom.
The star of the influential and popular 1980s family comedy "The Cosby Show," he has long weighed in on the issues of education and personal responsibility in the African-American community. He and his wife, Camille, have donated millions of dollars in gifts to colleges and hundreds of thousands more for scholarship grants through the couple's foundation.
ABC said more of the interview was to air Friday on "Nightline."