Disney Takes Down Bill Cosby Statue at Hollywood Studios

Photo by John Frost / TheDisneyBlog.com

The Bill Cosby sexual assault scandal reached a turning point this week when new court documents revealed that the comedian admitted years ago to buying Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to women he wanted to have sex with. Now, even his staunchest supporters are backing away. First Jill Scott, who stood up for him on Twitter earlier this year, admitted she was wrong to defend him, and now Disney has announced it will remove a sculpture of Cosby from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame Plaza at Hollywood Studios park. More from A.V. Club:

A bust of Cosby has stood in the … Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame Plaza for years, smiling down at parkgoers with an expression that might previously been described as beaming, but which now, legally, must be categorized as a leer. … A spokesperson for the park confirmed that the statue [was removed last night] after the park was closed, forcefully tearing down the image of Cosby as a genial, fatherly figure.

According to the article, the removal was initiated by a petition drafted by Brittany Gavrilova, a niece of one of Cosby’s alleged victims. In the body of the draft, she states that she wanted to visit the park “without having that difficult encounter.”