Bill Cosby sex allegations: Why did it take celebrity accusers for the world to listen? She told TMZ that Cosby walked into her dressing room and assaulted her before appearing on The Tonight Show in 1971. And it was back in October that US comedian Hannibal Buress unleashed a tirade against Cosby on stage, calling him a "rapist" and renewing decades-old news reports on the topic. People think I'm making it up. Buress told his Philadelphia audience. When you leave here, google 'Bill Cosby rape.' That s*** has more results than 'Hannibal Buress"." Now, amid growing discontent, the TV star has had his forthcoming Netflix comedy special cancelled. Cosby has chosen not to respond directly to the allegations, but in previously unaired footage from an interview with the Associated Press, a particularly brave reporter asked him about them. "No, no, we don't answer that," was the response. After the interview, with his microphone still recording, Cosby told the journalist, "I think if you want to consider yourself to be serious, that it [the interview question] will not appear anywhere." He has since pulled out of other scheduled interviews, including the Late Show with David Letterman. In a statement, Bill Cosby's lawyer Marty Singer said: "The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true." Today, he added: "We've reached a point of absurdity. The accusations against Cosby have been around since the late Sixties. But it has taken household names, like that of Dickinson, to propel them from speculative to serious. The majority of Cosby's accusers didn't succeed in their pursuit of fame. Janice Dickinson is a notable exception, and her allegations have thrust the other women into the spotlight. Aged 59, Dickinson has enjoyed a successful career. She has very little to gain or lose from speaking out at this point. So why do her words carry more weight? How sad that it took the intervention of a celebrity to make the world sit up and listen. It's this power disparity that reveals itself time and time again when men with money and fame are accused of sexual assault or rape. Remember when BBC Newsnight editor Peter Rippon - discussing the then allegations of rape against Jimmy Savile - emailed colleagues saying: "our sources so far are just the women"? Each 'source' making claims against Cosby has similar elements to their story - young women (aspiring models and actresses) meet Cosby via agents or industry contacts. Cosby then appoints himself their mentor and begins a seemingly professional relationship. The young women are invited into his home or hotel, and offered coffee, or wine, or pills to settle upset stomachs, or alleviate stress. They don't remember much after that, but wake-up partially dressed and disorientated. In 2005, a civil lawsuit saw 13 different women come forward with allegations that supported the claims of Cosby's main accuser. Her name was Andrea Constand. Cosby settled the case out of court. None of the 13 women who came forward ended up testifying in court, and, to date Cosby has not been charged or convicted of any crime. But in the same year, Barbara Bowman told People magazine that when she was a 17-year-old aspiring actress, Cosby saw fit to take her under his wing. She says it culminated in rape and abuse. After he offered her a drink, recounted Bowman: " I'm sick and I'm nauseous and I'm delusional and I'm limp and ... I can't think straight.... And I just came to, and I'm wearing a [men's] T-shirt that wasn't mine, and he was in a white robe. Cosby's fatherly public image, paired with a cult of celebrity that conferred him an automatic level of trust, provided at atmosphere ripe for exploitation. And, as we've seen in other cases (think Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris) a culture of impunity can grow up around celebrity. There's no one way for a victim of sexual assault or rape to adequately respond to a violation. Fear is compounded if an attacker is famous. This cycle must be stopped, and talking publicly about it is the first step. Speaking to Newsweek earlier this year, Barbara Bowman added: "He cannot use his power and his money to abuse and rape young women and hide under this veil of wealth and celebrity status and intimidate us any longer." Whether Cosby will address the allegations directly - or be forced to - remains to be seen.