Crew removes graffiti from Bill Cosby’s star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Graffiti commenting on sex abuse allegations against Bill Cosby were removed Friday from the comedian’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The word “rapist” was scrawled on Cosby’s star three times, according a photo that Houston television station KRIV-Fox 26 said it received from a viewer and posted on its website Thursday. The comedian has been accused by more than a dozen women of drugging them and sexual abuse, but he has never been charged with a crime.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which manages the stars embedded in several sidewalks in Hollywood, wrote in a statement that the stars were intended to celebrate the positive contributions of its inductees.

“When people are unhappy with one of our honorees, we would hope that they would project their anger in more positive ways then to vandalize a California state landmark,” the chamber wrote in a statement.

Cosby received his star in 1977. It is placed near the busy intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue.

A Southern California woman sued Cosby on Tuesday, claiming he forced her to perform a sex act on him with her hand in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old. The incident occurred around 1974, according to the sexual battery complaint.

Cosby’s attorneys denied the accusation in a court filing Thursday and sought to dismiss the case. Their motion called Judy Huth’s lawsuit extortion and said she attempted to sell her story to a tabloid a decade ago. They also cited discussions with her lawyer in which her price for silence rose from $100,000 to $250,000 in recent weeks.

The renewed accusations of sexual misconduct against Cosby have cost him projects on NBC and Netflix, a trustee position at Temple University, and have forced the cancellation of numerous shows on his comedy tour.