With his arrest this week, Sean “Diddy” Combs joins a short list of celebrities prosecuted for sex crimes in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

Kevin Hart rose from the open mics and comedy clubs of his native Philadelphia to become one of his country’s most recognizable performers.

For a year, New York’s Adult Survivors Act gave adults claiming they had been sexually assaulted a chance to file civil lawsuits, no matter how long ago the assaults occurred.

A year-long suspension of the legal time limit to sue over sexual assaults against adults in New York has led to a tidal wave of claims on behalf of women who were incarcerated.

A woman who says Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her when she was a young comedy writer more than 50 years ago is now suing the actor.

A new documentary premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival examines the Louis C.

You know you’ve made a cultural impact when Henry Kissinger quotes your own joke back to you.

A group of women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault and were dismayed when he had his conviction overturned and left prison are trying again to seek justice in the courts.

Nine more women are accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault in a lawsuit that alleges he used what they call his “enormous power, fame and prestige” to victimize them.

A former Playboy model who alleges Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her and another woman at his home in 1969 is suing the entertainer in Los Angeles under a new California law that suspends the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims.

A Los Angeles prosecutor told jurors that actor Danny Masterson drugged three women before raping them.

Once again, disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein sits in a courtroom, on trial in Los Angeles while the reckoning the accusations against him launched marks a significant milestone this month.

The release of a transcript of previously sealed testimony in Roman Polanski's long-running sex abuse case in Los Angeles is the latest development in a legal saga that has spanned 45 years.

Civil trial jurors have found that Bill Cosby sexually abused a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.

After two days of deliberations, jurors in a civil trial deciding on sexual abuse allegations against Bill Cosby will have to start from scratch on Monday.

A lawyer for Bill Cosby told jurors they need to look past years of public accusations against him and consider only the evidence presented by a woman who says he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was 16.

Video testimony played for jurors at a civil trial shows Bill Cosby denying sexually abusing a teenage girl at the Playboy Mansion in the mid-1970s.

A dispute over the arcade game Donkey Kong arose during the civil trial of Bill Cosby over allegations that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.

A woman testified that she was 14 when Bill Cosby took her into a trailer on a movie set in 1975, grabbed her so she couldn’t move her arms, and kissed her.

A friend of a woman suing Bill Cosby alleging he sexually abused her as a teen testified that Judy Huth was distraught and in tears at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 after the alleged molestation.

Eleven months after he was freed from prison, 85-year-old Bill Cosby will again be the defendant in a sexual assault proceeding.

With less than a week to go before a civil trial, Bill Cosby's lawyers are crying foul over a change in the story of a woman who alleges he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion.

Legal experts and victims’ advocates say celebrity chef Mario Batali’s acquittal on sexual assault charges underscores the inherent difficulties of prosecuting such cases nearly five years into the #MeToo era.

Comedian Jon Stewart says speculation about the future of comedy amid increased audience cultural sensitivity is ignoring a true and enduring threat: authoritarian governments around the world.

The Supreme Court is narrowing the reach of a federal law that strengthens penalties for career criminals found to illegally have a gun.

A spokesperson for Bill Cosby says the 84-year-old comedian is considering a final standup tour after the U.S. Supreme Court said it would not revive the sexual assault case against him.

To plead the Fifth or not to plead the Fifth.

A Los Angeles judge appears strongly inclined to allow Bill Cosby to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege and avoid giving a deposition in the lawsuit of a woman who alleges he sexually abused her when she was 15 in the mid-1970s.

Bill Cosby has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a bid by prosecutors to revive his criminal sex assault case.

Dispatches from the Sundance Film Festival are usually accompanied by descriptions of the looming mountains, snowy premieres and frantic bus shuttles.

The 44th annual Sundance Film Festival is back, and entirely online once more.

Jason Momoa and wife Lisa Bonet have ended their 16-year relationship.

Sidney Poitier made history — on the screen and off.

A New York appeals court has excoriated Manhattan prosecutors for filling out Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial last year with what one judge deemed “incredibly prejudicial testimony” from women whose allegations weren’t part of the criminal charges against him.

The Sundance Film Festival is returning to the Utah mountains in January armed with documentaries about Bill Cosby, Princess Diana, Kanye West and Lucille Ball as well as the directorial debuts of Eva Longoria, Tig Notaro and Jesse Eisenberg.

Prosecutors have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.

The brother of a British socialite charged with helping Jeffrey Epstein exploit underage girls says her prosecution is “the most over-hyped trial of the century,” designed to break a woman targeted by authorities who are desperate to blame someone for the late financier’s crimes.

Comedian Mort Sahl has died.

Melvin Van Peebles, a Broadway playwright, musician and movie director whose work ushered in the “blaxploitation” films of the 1970s, has died.

If leaving the storied role of “The Tonight Show” host mandates retirement, Jay Leno ignored the memo.

Bill Cosby accuser Andrea Constand has penned a memoir out Tuesday that offers a view from her seat at the center of a high-profile #MeToo case.

Since its launch in 2017, the #MeToo movement has experienced some fits and starts.

It's a year of diversity and firsts in the nominations for the 73rd Emmy Awards.

The pandemic hasn't slowed down two of the most prominent #MeToo attorneys, who say they're having their busiest year ever.

The public outcry over Bill Cosby’s sudden release from prison, where he was serving a sentence for criminal sexual assault, was swift, with #MeToo activists worried it would have a chilling effect on sexual assault survivors.

Phylicia Rashad has found herself embroiled in controversy after expressing public support for Bill Cosby’s release from prison, with some prominent Black voices calling for her dismissal as dean of Howard University's College of Fine Arts.

When Bill Cosby went to prison nearly three years ago, it was the most stunning development yet of the year-old #MeToo movement.

Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction has been thrown out by Pennsylvania’s highest court, which ruled that he was unfairly prosecuted because a previous district attorney had promised he wouldn't be charged.

Here’s what’s coming up on Local 4 News at 4:

Bill Cosby has been freed from prison after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction.

Clarence Williams III, who played the cool undercover cop Linc Hayes on the counterculture series “The Mod Squad” and Prince’s father in “Purple Rain,” has died.

Actor Bill Cosby has been denied parole after refusing to participate in sex offender programs during his nearly three years in state prison in Pennsylvania.

A woman testified that she was five years into a relationship with actor Danny Masterson when he began having sex with her while she slept, as he often did.

A woman testified that she was slipping in and out of consciousness on a night 18 years ago when she said actor Danny Masterson raped her.

More than a half century late, Jackson State University, in Mississippi, is honoring its Class of 1970.

He argued that Trump could not have — and would not have — encouraged the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. “We’re really here because majority in the House of Representatives does not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future. AdHis reemergence as an impeachment lawyer for Trump was a head-scratching moment for Pennsylvania's political and legal world. He had not campaigned for Trump, and a longtime friend, Brian Miles, told the Inquirer that the two men had never discussed Trump before Castor mentioned recently that he was up for the job. For all the criticism directed at him, Castor suggested that Trump did not criticize his performance.

Since losing the November election to President Joe Biden, Trump has been hemorrhaging attorneys. Trump's impeachment lawyers started off their defense by misspelling the words “United States” in their brief. Navarro told The Associated Press that he “warned the president that his legal team was going to fail him." Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Trump’s team did a “terrible job." AdBut after impeachment, Trump's legal needs will likely accelerate, with the investigations in New York, Georgia and possibly Washington, D.C., where prosecutors will have the power of subpoena.

Former President Trump has named two lawyers to his impeachment defense team, one day after it was revealed that the former president had parted ways with an earlier set of attorneys. AdThe announcement was intended to promote a sense of stability surrounding the Trump defense team as his impeachment trial nears. Trump’s team had initially announced that Butch Bowers, a South Carolina lawyer, would lead his legal team after an introduction from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. Many legal scholars, however, say there is no bar to an impeachment trial despite Trump having left the White House. Schoen met with financier Jeffrey Epstein about joining his defense team on sex trafficking charges just days before Epstein killed himself in a New York jail.

Attorney Tom Mesereau entered the plea for the 44-year-old actor, who was not in court, to three charges of rape by force or fear. Prosecutors allege that he raped a 23-year-old woman sometime in 2001, a 28-year-old woman in April of 2003, and a 23-year-old woman between October and December of 2003, all at his Hollywood Hills home. Defense lawyer Tom Mesereau entered the plea for Masterson, who was not present in court, to three charges of rape by force or fear in Los Angeles County Superior Court. All of the alleged rapes happened at his Hollywood Hills home. The alleged rapes happened at the height of Masterson’s fame as he starred as Steven Hyde on Fox TV's retro sitcom “That ’70s Show” from 1998 to 2006 alongside Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace.

Now the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is set to hear his appeal of the conviction on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The arguments will focus on the trial judge's decision to let five other accusers testify for the prosecution. Cosby, 83, hopes to overturn his 2018 sex assault conviction because the judge let prosecutors call five other accusers who said Cosby mistreated them the same way he did his victim, Andrea Constand. Judge Steven T. O'Neill had allowed just one other accuser to testify at Cosby's first trial in 2017, when the jury could not reach a verdict. O'Neill then let five other accusers testify at Cosby's retrial in 2018, when the jury convicted him of drugging and sexually assaulting Constand.

HARRISBURG, Pa. – A newly released prison mug shot shows Bill Cosby smiling with a disposable mask hanging off his face. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections recently updated Cosby’s mug shot, something routinely done to document changes to inmates' appearance as they age. Cosby's new photo was taken Sept. 4. It was accompanied by text that said: “This photo was taken by his publicist, Andrew Wyatt, during his first virtual video conference call with Mr. Cosby last week. An appeals court had upheld his conviction, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed this year to review two key issues in the case.

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear Bill Cosby's appeal of his felony sex assault conviction on Dec. 1. A lower appeals court had upheld his conviction, but the state's high court agreed this year to review two key issues in the case. The high court will also consider whether the jury should have heard evidence that Cosby had given quaaludes to women in the past. Dozens of women have come forward over the years to accuse Cosby of sexual assault, and the trial judge deemed him a sexually violent predator. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are sexual assault victims without their permission, which Constand has granted.

Actor Danny Masterson, left, stands with his attorney, Thomas Mesereau as he is arraigned on rape charges at Los Angeles Superior Court, in Los Angeles, Calif. on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. (Lucy Nicholson/Pool Photo via AP)

Actor Danny Masterson, left, stands with his attorney, Thomas Mesereau as he is arraigned on rape charges at Los Angeles Superior Court, in Los Angeles, Calif. on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. “There have been repeated attempts to politicize this case,” said Mesereau, who also represented Bill Cosby and Michael Jackson in their sexual misconduct cases. “We want to do anything we can to tone down the cameras and the circus-like atmosphere that have pervaded this case," the attorney said. Despite dozens of investigations, most have led to no charges based on lack of evidence or too much time passing. He was removed from the Netflix show “The Ranch” in 2017 over the allegations that would eventually lead to the charges.

PHILADELPHIA – Legal advocates are lining up on both sides of actor Bill Cosby’s appeal as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court prepares to review his 2018 sex assault conviction. Cosby was the first celebrity to go on trial in the #MeToo era, and his appeal could resolve lingering questions about how the cases should be tried. Public defenders in Philadelphia, in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in Cosby's appeal, noted that courts have given conflicting guidance on the issue. The other groups filing legal briefs in the appeal include the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. Cosby’s trial judge, Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill, said their testimony did just that, even if it occurred a decade or two before Constand's encounter.

A judge on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, denied Polanski's request to restore his membership into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that bestows the Academy Awards two years after he was expelled from it for raping a minor. The fugitive film director sued in April 2019, asking the court to compel the organization to make him a member in good standing again. (AP Photo/File)LOS ANGELES A judge on Tuesday denied Roman Polanski's request to restore his membership in the organization that bestows the Academy Awards two years after he was expelled from it for raping a minor. The fugitive film director sued in April 2019, asking the court to compel the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make him a member in good standing again. His art will survive long after the academy is a forgotten relic.An email seeking comment from academy officials wasn't immediately returned.

It's been one year since Bill Cosby went to prison. The disgraced comedian's spokesperson paid him a visit behind bars on the anniversary of his incarceration. Hear what he says Cosby told him. A cellphone found at the bottom of a murky river miraculously still worked over a year after it was lost. For more Inside Edition stories tune in to today's show.

These witnesses, including supermodel Janice Dickinson, are known as "prior bad acts" witnesses. In court, prosecutors said these witnesses showed Cosby had a common pattern or scheme in his assault of Constand. Montgomery County prosecutor Kevin Steele highlighted the "prior bad acts" testimony immediately after the verdict. "Everybody got to see who he really is when each of those prior bad act witnesses got to testify, he said. "This filing is an important step in ensuring that Mr. Cosby receives a hearing from a fair and impartial court," Cosby's spokesman Andrew Wyatt said in a statement.

Comedian and pudding enthusiast Bill Cosby openly joked about the first few Internet-spawned rumors of his death, but by the fourth one in the summer of 2010 he was done laughing. As the hoax picked up steam on Twitter, the comedian took to his own account to conform he was still alive, writing, "Again, I'm rebuttaling rumors about my demise." Hide Caption