--- title: Bill Cosby Medal of Freedom: Barack Obama Says He Can't Revoke description: President Obama said that there is no process to revoke a Presidential Medal of Freedom given to comedian Bill Cosby. canonical: https://time.com/3959225/bill-cosby-barack-obama-presidential-medal-freedom/ author: Michael Scherer article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-15T18:43:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:29:12.478Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama: No Process to Revoke Cosby's Medal of Freedom og:description: The president said it had never been done before. og:url: https://time.com/3959225/bill-cosby-barack-obama-presidential-medal-freedom/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54ffe3252b89d644/69885b09e53aba46ed4de9f2/barack-obama-bill-cosby-medal-freedom.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Bill Cosby Barack Obama Presidential Medal of Freedom og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama: No Process to Revoke Cosby's Medal of Freedom twitter:description: The president said it had never been done before. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54ffe3252b89d644/69885b09e53aba46ed4de9f2/barack-obama-bill-cosby-medal-freedom.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Says He Can't Revoke Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal Of Freedom > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8d5040b7-530c-4f63-bf94-1a4474a4836b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Bill Cosby Admitted in 2005 to Buying Drugs to Give to Women [Watch (HLS stream): Bill Cosby Admitted in 2005 to Buying Drugs to Give to Women](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VEIkPLsL.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2015-07-06. According to an AP investigation, Bill Cosby testified during a 2005 court case that he had purchased sedatives with the intent to give them to women._ by [Michael Scherer](https://time.com/author/michael-scherer/) ## Michael Scherer Jul 15, 2015 6:43 PM UTC by [Michael Scherer](https://time.com/author/michael-scherer/) ## Michael Scherer Jul 15, 2015 6:43 PM UTC President Obama said Wednesday that he did not have the ability to revoke Bill Cosby’s Presidential Medal of Freedom in the wake of more than two dozen accusations of sexual misconduct against the comedian. “There is no precedent for revoking the medal,” he said, during a press conference in the East Room. “We don’t have the mechanism.” He declined to comment on the specifics of the Cosby allegations, citing the ongoing civil cases against the entertainer and the possibility of criminal charges. But he did take the opportunity to condemn the sort of behavior that Cosby has been accused of perpetrating. “If you give a woman or a man for that matter, without his or her knowledge, a drug and then have sex with that person without consent—that’s rape,” he said. “Any civilized country should have no tolerance for rape.” The presidential medal of freedom was given to Cosby in 2002 by President George W. Bush, years before a civil case filed against Cosby for sexual misconduct triggered a wave of allegations. Since then Cosby has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct, including several cases of drugging and raping women over several decades. This summer it was revealed that Cosby had admitted in a once-sealed court deposition that he had obtained quaaludes, a prescription drug, with the intent of giving them to women with whom he hoped to have sex. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Claire McCaskill of Missouri have supported a petition effort calling on Obama to revoke the medal. “She supports this group’s effort because we need to set a clear example that sexual assault will not be tolerated in this country, and someone who admitted to using drugs for sex no longer deserves the nation’s highest honor,” said Glen Caplin, a spokesman for Gillibrand, in a statement to [Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/kirsten-gillibrand-return-bill-cosby-presidential-medal-of-freedom-119970.html#ixzz3fzCwZQAX). ## Transcript Comedian Bill Cosby, who's been plagued for months by accusations of sexual assault, has previously admitted to obtaining and using sedatives with the intent of giving them to young women. An AP investigation into a 2005 lawsuit against Cosby Uncovered testimony from the comedian in which he admitted to obtaining quaaludes and planning to give them to women he wanted to have sex with. The latest revelations add to a growing list of scandals for Cosby. Over two dozen women claim to have been drugged and raped by the comedian over the course of his decades long career. Since most of those alleged incidents occurred past the statute of limitations this latest wave hasn't resulted in criminal charges. The 2005 case is likely to be no different. Cosby settle out of court in 2006 for an undisclosed amount. The lawsuit was filed by a former employee of Temple University, Cosby's Alma Matter. Cosby was a frequent supporter of Temple, but stepped down from the school's Board of Trustees in December in the midst of the allegations. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3959225/bill-cosby-barack-obama-presidential-medal-freedom/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3959225/bill-cosby-barack-obama-presidential-medal-freedom/"},"headline":"Obama Says He Can't Revoke Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal Of Freedom","datePublished":"2015-07-15T18:43:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:29:12.478Z","description":"The president also condemned the behavior Cosby has been accused of committing","url":"https://time.com/3959225/bill-cosby-barack-obama-presidential-medal-freedom/","keywords":["Bill Cosby","Barack Obama","Rape","White House","Bill Cosby"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54ffe3252b89d644/69885b09e53aba46ed4de9f2/barack-obama-bill-cosby-medal-freedom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michael Scherer","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michael-scherer/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54ffe3252b89d644/69885b09e53aba46ed4de9f2/barack-obama-bill-cosby-medal-freedom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Cosby Barack Obama Presidential Medal of Freedom","caption":"Bill Cosby Barack Obama Presidential Medal of Freedom","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","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/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bill-cosby/","name":"Bill Cosby"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3959225/bill-cosby-barack-obama-presidential-medal-freedom/","name":"Obama Says He Can't Revoke Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal Of Freedom"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Bill Cosby Admitted in 2005 to Buying Drugs to Give to Women","description":"According to an AP investigation, Bill Cosby testified during a 2005 court case that he had purchased sedatives with the intent to give them to women.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/VEIkPLsL/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-06T23:29:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VEIkPLsL.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3959225/bill-cosby-barack-obama-presidential-medal-freedom/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3959225/bill-cosby-barack-obama-presidential-medal-freedom/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```