According to a report from The Associated Press, three judges in the Pennsylvania Superior Court will hear Bill Cosby’s appeal. The former stand-up comedy legend is appealing his case regarding the sexual assault and drugging of Andrea Constand fourteen years ago, for which he was convicted guilty of in April of 2018.

Bill Cosby was the first celebrity to be convicted for his crimes in the wake of the #MeToo movement approximately three years after Bill’s controversy hit the mainstream media and took North America by storm.

According to The Associated Press, academics are concerned that if the judges overturn the former comedian’s case, it will say a lot about the #MeToo movement as a whole, so the fate of the appeal depends on the judges’ decision in this case.

Professor Margaret Johnson, who’s a professor of gender law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, stated that she’s worried if the conviction is reversed, it could play into the narrative that victims of sexual violence are not to be believed.

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Margaret Johnson stated, “I’ve been struck by, the power of the backlash against #MeToo.” Margaret could be referring to Cuba Gooding Junior’s case in which he was accused of grabbing a woman’s chest while at a club in New York.

Cuba and his attorney challenged the woman’s mental state, as some of her tweets online were particularly bizarre. His attorney, took to Twitter to say he was starting the “Not Me Movement,” along with the hashtag, “#NotMe.”

As it was previously reported, Cosby was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in a 2004 altercation. It went to trial in June of 2017 just a few months before a wave of sexual misconduct allegations shook the entertainment industry and parts of the Western World.

After the first deadlocked trial, the judge ordered another jury and he was convicted after fourteen hours of deliberations. The jury found him guilty of drugging and molesting the 30-year-old Constand after she went to his home for career advice.

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The president of RAINN, Scott Berkowitz, stated that it’s a “high-profile case,” and the result of it is important because it sends a message to other survivors of sexual assault around the country who are considering coming out with their stories.

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