--- title: Bill Cosby Made Deal With the National Enquirer Over a Sex Allegation description: The comic admitted under oath in 2005 that he gave an exclusive in return for the dropping of another article that alleged sexual assault. canonical: https://time.com/3608710/bill-cosby-national-enquirer-secret-oath/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-27T12:29:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:25:40.873Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Bill Cosby Made 2005 Deal to Hush Sex Allegations og:description: He testified that gave the National Enquirer an exclusive to drop charges og:url: https://time.com/3608710/bill-cosby-national-enquirer-secret-oath/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a9346fc369f870f/69876b5906f2c15ae033280c/ap537228506199.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bill Cosby og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill Cosby Made 2005 Deal to Hush Sex Allegations twitter:description: He testified that gave the National Enquirer an exclusive to drop charges twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a9346fc369f870f/69876b5906f2c15ae033280c/ap537228506199.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bill Cosby Made a Deal With the _National Enquirer_ Over a Sex Allegation ## Video: See Bill Cosby's Only Public Comment on Rape Allegations [Watch (HLS stream): See Bill Cosby's Only Public Comment on Rape Allegations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5EZrnNYI.m3u8) (4:13)  _Published 2014-11-20. See Bill Cosby's Only Public Comment on Rape Allegations_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 27, 2014 12:29 PM UTC  This Nov. 11, 2014, file photo shows entertainer and Navy veteran Bill Cosby speaking during a Veterans Day ceremony, at the The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors in Philadelphia. This Nov. 11, 2014, file photo shows entertainer and Navy veteran Bill Cosby speaking during a Veterans Day ceremony, at the The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors in Philadelphia.Matt Rourke — AP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 27, 2014 12:29 PM UTC Bill Cosby [admitted](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/27/business/media/cosby-gave-interview-to-keep-charges-secret.html) under oath in 2005 that he gave an exclusive interview to the _National Enquirer_ in exchange for the paper’s promise to drop an interview with onetime model Beth Ferrier, who accused him of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s. The New York _Times_ reports that the admission was made during a Sept. 2005 deposition at the Federal District Court in Philadelphia. The court documents containing the comedian’s testimony had been sealed, but were released on Wednesday in response to media requests. “I would give them an exclusive story, my words,” Cosby testified, according to the documents, when asked about the agreement with the _Enquirer_. The paper, on their part, “would not print the story of — print Beth’s story,” he said. More than a dozen women have, over the past two weeks, publicly claimed that Cosby had sexually assaulted, harassed or raped them. Cosby has denied all allegations. [Read more at the New York _Times_.](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/27/business/media/cosby-gave-interview-to-keep-charges-secret.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3608710/bill-cosby-national-enquirer-secret-oath/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3608710/bill-cosby-national-enquirer-secret-oath/"},"headline":"Bill Cosby Made a Deal With the National Enquirer Over a Sex Allegation","datePublished":"2014-11-27T12:29:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:25:40.873Z","description":"The comedian admitted under oath in 2005 that he gave an exclusive interview in return for the hushing of charges","url":"https://time.com/3608710/bill-cosby-national-enquirer-secret-oath/","keywords":["celebrities","Bill Cosby topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a9346fc369f870f/69876b5906f2c15ae033280c/ap537228506199.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a9346fc369f870f/69876b5906f2c15ae033280c/ap537228506199.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Cosby","caption":"Bill Cosby","creditText":"Matt Rourke — AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3608710/bill-cosby-national-enquirer-secret-oath/","name":"Bill Cosby Made a Deal With the National Enquirer Over a Sex Allegation"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See Bill Cosby's Only Public Comment on Rape Allegations","description":"See Bill Cosby's Only Public Comment on Rape Allegations","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5EZrnNYI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-11-20T01:49:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5EZrnNYI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3608710/bill-cosby-national-enquirer-secret-oath/","duration":"PT4M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3608710/bill-cosby-national-enquirer-secret-oath/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```