New York magazine cover features 35 women who have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault

THIRTY-FIVE women. Thirty-five stories of sexual assault. New York magazine’s powerful new cover story has damned Bill Cosby like never before.

(FILES) This October 2, 2010 file photo shows Comedian Bill Cosby as he performs onstage during "A Celebration of Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Camps" at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center in New York City. Thirty-five women who allege they were sexually assaulted by US comedy legend Bill Cosby were united July 27, 2015 on a magazine cover to tell startlingly similar stories of abuse. They include models, waitresses, Playboy bunnies and women who used to work in show business. One says he raped her while she was grief stricken over the recent death of her six-year-old son. The New York magazine cover story is the largest expose yet of alleged abuse from nearly 50 women who have publicly accused Cosby of assault from the 1960s to 1996 across the United States. AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARY

MORE than 30 women who have accused embattled comedian Bill Cosby of sexual assault are featured on the cover of the new issue of New York magazine, including supermodels Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson.

The Cosby Show star has been under fire in recent months as dozens of women went public with decades-old allegations of sexual misconduct and rape.

The women on the cover, dubbed an “unwelcome sisterhood” include models, waitresses, Playboy bunnies and women who used to work in show business.

Comedian Bill Cosby has been shamed by the cover of New York magazine. Picture: AFP Photo / Timothy A Clary

Now those 35 women have posed for a powerful photo shoot and essay series titled Cosby: The Women, An Unwelcome Sisterhood. On the black-and-white cover, each woman sits in a chair, staring straight at the camera. Each reported victim also has an additional portrait and an accompanying article detailing their thoughts on the scandal.

Hours after the magazine debuted its new cover on its website, the site crashed: an error initially attributed to high traffic.

But a hacker with the handle ThreatHack later claimed responsibility for crashing the site, telling the website Daily Dot he was motivated not by any interest in the Bill Cosby story, but a hatred of New York City itself.

“Many stupid people at [sic] New York,” ThreatKing told a Daily Dot reporter over Skype. “I have not even seen the cover, LOL.”

The New York magazine is now back in operation.

The ‘Unwelcome Sisterhood’ tell their stories

Janice Dickinson’s essay recounted her previous statements, in which she alleged Cosby took advantage of her when she was 28 years old in 1982, and similarly, Beverly Johnson’s entry also recalled her encounter with Cosby, in which he allegedly drugged her during a meeting about her aspiring acting career.

Other women’s claims are also akin to Dickinson and Johnson’s, and some open up about how their reported assaults changed the course of their lives.

Writer Sammie Mays, who alleges Cosby attacked her in 1986, says, “When I see a Jell-O pudding, it comes flooding back. Bill Cosby, that encounter, that one time, played a major factor in the direction my life took, toward the dark side.”

Journalist Joan Tashis, who was one of the first to come forward with allegations last year, hopes that after this controversy, Cosby’s place in show business history will be marred by his alleged actions.

She tells New York magazine, “I think his legacy is going to be similar to (American footballer) OJ’s (Simpson) legacy. When you hear OJ Simpson’s name, you don’t think, ‘Oh, great football player.’ That doesn’t come to mind first.

“I’m thinking it’s not going to be, ‘Oh, great comedian.’ It’s going to be, ‘Oh, serial rapist.’ And that will be our legacy.”

Cosby has denied all the rape allegations and has not been charged with any crime relating to the accusations.