President Barack Obama weighed in on whether Bill Cosby should be stripped of a prestigious honor in light of allegations that the comedian sexually assaulted dozens of women, during a White House press conference Wednesday.
Obama said that the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to Cosby in 2002 cannot be revoked, explaining, "There's no precedent for revoking a medal. We don't have that mechanism."
However, the president went on to clarify that the U.S. has "no tolerance" for sexual assault.
"I'll say this. If you give a woman — or a man, for that matter — without his or her knowledge a drug, and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape," he said. "And I think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape."
While more than a dozen women have accused Cosby, 77, of having sexually assaulted them, he has never been charged with a crime and both he and his representatives have denied past allegations.
Read more of President Obama's comments here.
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