--- title: Bill Cosby: Don Lemon Asks Joan Tarshis Why She Didn't Stop Assault description: "There are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn't want to do it" canonical: https://time.com/3594631/don-lemon-bill-cosby/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-19T15:51:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:56:18.472Z og:title: Bill Cosby: Don Lemon Asks Joan Tarshis Why She Didn't Stop Assault og:description: "There are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn't want to do it" og:url: https://time.com/3594631/don-lemon-bill-cosby/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc80318f09d66bdd0/6987698fe53abae3bf4d6002/screen-shot-2014-11-19-at-10-33-36-am.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2014-11-19 at 10.33.36 AM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill Cosby: Don Lemon Asks Joan Tarshis Why She Didn't Stop Assault twitter:description: "There are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn't want to do it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc80318f09d66bdd0/6987698fe53abae3bf4d6002/screen-shot-2014-11-19-at-10-33-36-am.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Don Lemon Ask Bill Cosby's Rape Accuser Why She Didn't Prevent Her Assault  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 19, 2014 3:51 PM UTC  CNN's Don Lemon interviews Joan Tarshis about her rape allegations against Bill Cosby CNN's Don Lemon interviews Joan Tarshis about her rape allegations against Bill CosbyCNN  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 19, 2014 3:51 PM UTC CNN’s Don Lemon is getting flak for his interview with Joan Tarshis, who earlier this week accused comedian Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting her in 1969. Tarshis says when she was an aspiring teenage actress that Cosby drugged her and coerced her into performing oral sex. During his interview with her Tuesday night, Lemon asked why she didn’t use her teeth to prevent Cosby’s assault. Read the exchange below: --- > “” --- Shortly after the interview aired, the mocking hashtag #DonLemonReporting quickly became a trending topic on Twitter. > [](https://twitter.com/Clarknt67/status/535088361263091713) > [](https://twitter.com/daakardior/status/534974381961654273) > [](https://twitter.com/TheSpoony/status/535087396896145408) > [](https://twitter.com/stephanie%5Flevy/status/535086807462207488) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3594631/don-lemon-bill-cosby/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3594631/don-lemon-bill-cosby/"},"headline":"Watch Don Lemon Ask Bill Cosby's Rape Accuser Why She Didn't Prevent Her Assault","datePublished":"2014-11-19T15:51:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:18.472Z","description":"\"There are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn't want to do it\"","url":"https://time.com/3594631/don-lemon-bill-cosby/","keywords":["Living","Sexual Assault"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc80318f09d66bdd0/6987698fe53abae3bf4d6002/screen-shot-2014-11-19-at-10-33-36-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc80318f09d66bdd0/6987698fe53abae3bf4d6002/screen-shot-2014-11-19-at-10-33-36-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2014-11-19 at 10.33.36 AM","caption":"CNN's Don Lemon interviews Joan Tarshis about her rape allegations against Bill Cosby","creditText":"CNN","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":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3594631/don-lemon-bill-cosby/","name":"Watch Don Lemon Ask Bill Cosby's Rape Accuser Why She Didn't Prevent Her Assault"}}]}] ```