"Scandal" season 5 episode 7 titled "Even the Devil Deserves a Second Chance" tackled a rape case involving a high profile person.
One woman came out and sought help of Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) to take down a well-loved professor and supposed Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Frank Holland. She said this former mentor of hers raped her back in college with the help of a drug.
Later in the episode, more and more women claimed they, too, were victimized by Holland.
The premise sounds familiar right? As the episode airs, viewers took to internet to express how the latest episode looks like a re-enactment of Bill Cosby's rape case.
The veteran comedian has been hit by multiple rape accusations by a number of women he worked with. The parallels cannot be denied. Girls getting drugged, a man with a legacy, a national level award, and so on.
Shonda Rhimes, the show's creator, was asked about the latest case in "Scandal" season 5 episode 7 and although Bill Cosby's and Frank Holland's case almost look the same, the acclaimed TV writer and producer denies it was meant to lambast the 78-year old controversial actor.
"I don't need the Cosby scandal to inspire me to tell a story about rape," she told Entertainment Weekly.
"As if that is the only instance in which rape is relevant. Somewhere in America, a woman is raped every two minutes. Every two minutes. Let's not diminish or insult the stories of these survivors by suggesting that I could only decide to tell a story about rape because of a celebrity scandal."
Bill Cosby has been accused by 57 (FIFTY SEVEN!!) women which includes celebrities, most of them claiming they were drugged.
He received a Medal Freedom Award from George W. Bush in 2002, an honor similar to what Frank Holland got in the latest episode of "Scandal" TV series. Some colleges were forced to cut ties with the host due to allegations.
US President Barack Obama said, revoking the Medal of Freedom award is not something the government can do.
"There's no precedent for revoking a medal," the POTUS said back in July of this year.
"We don't have that mechanism. And, as you know, I tend to make it a policy not to comment on the specifics of cases where there might still be, if not criminal, then civil, issues involved. [long pause] 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. And I think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape."
Is "Scandal" season 5 episode 7 a shot towards Bill Cosby? Sound off in comments below.
