American democracy is sick in the 21st century as justice has become the missing link in democratic processes involving sexual assault on women and racist attacks.

The United States has been hit by nume

The Cosby Show star had more than a dozen women accuse him of sexual misconduct going back almost 30 years, and one case made it to court which convicted him for the 2004 sexual assault of Andrea Constand.

The 81-year-old black man who rose to fame in the 1960s becoming the first black actor to star in a drama series fell into shame and in jail, for a crime he pled not guilty to, but had admitted in a 2005 document to “obtaining sedatives to give to young women he wanted to have sex with”.

Scapegoat?

Cosby is the first and only celebrity during the #MeToo era to be jailed after dozens of top celebrities were named by accusers who said they were sexually assaulted. President Donald Trump’s nominee for Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, is currently under pressure after a professor Christine Blasey Ford alleged that in the early 1980s Kavanaugh had attempted to rape her.

Here are some big names who have been accused of sexual misconduct but are walking free.

Bill O’Reilly

Wealthy American journalist, author, and former television host Bill O’Reilly has been accused by at least six women of sexual harassment and threatening producers and guests to have sex with him or risk losing their careers if they refused him.

He is reported to have reached a legal settlements deal totalling a $45 million with the six women who were unsuccessful in court.

His misconduct was revealed in various New York Times investigations that resulted in his sack in 2017 by Fox News which was also implicated for helping him settle five sexual harassment lawsuits totalling $13 million.

Matt Lauer

Harvey Weinstein

American film producer Harvey Weinstein was the basis upon which the #MeToo movement started in 2017 after a report by the New York Times and The New Yorker claimed that dozens of women had accused him of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse over at least 30 years.

Over 80 women have come out afterwards to accuse him of the acts which he denied. He was fired from his company, The Weinstein Company, and criminal complaints were filed by at least six women against him which resulted in his arrest in New York in 2018 and a subsequent rape charge and other offences. He was released on bail pending investigations.

He is also being investigated in the United Kingdom and other countries for the same allegations. Weinstein is walking free.

Russell Simmons

Hip-hop, fashion and entertainment mogul Russell Simmons was accused by model Keri Claussen Khalighi of coercing her to perform a sex act and later penetrating her without her consent in his New York apartment in 1991. He disputed her account, saying the relationship was consensual.

From that time to 2018, over half a dozen women have accused him of sexual misconduct, and six of them accused him of rape. The latest is 37-year-old filmmaker Jennifer Jarosik who accused him in January 2018 of rape and sexual assault.

She filed a lawsuit in California’s Central District Court, seeking $5 million in damages. Jarosik alleged that Simmons raped her in August 2016 after she was invited to his house in Los Angeles.

When Jarosik arrived, Simmons allegedly asked her to have sex with him, to which she allegedly said “no.”

“Simmons got aggressive and pushed Plaintiff [Jarosik] on his bed. Plaintiff tried to force Defendant to stay away from her and in doing so, Defendant knocked Plaintiff off his bed, and Plaintiff hit her head and then Defendant pounced on her while she was still in shock and fear, and proceeded to rape her,” says the lawsuit.

Simmons stated that he has “never had a sexual encounter that was not consensual or lawful — ever.”

TRUMP

The United States President Donald Trump has been the centre of sexual misconduct allegations made by at least 19 women since the 1980s.

He has been sued three times including a suit by his then-wife Ivana who made a rape claim during their 1989 divorce litigation. All the suits were withdrawn. Some of the allegations were public before his presidency and others came up during and after his campaign for office.

A 2005 audio recording that was leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign implicated Trump who was bragging that he “can do anything” to women. He can “just start kissing them … I don’t even wait” and “grab ’em by the pussy”. He denied behaving that way toward women and later threatened to sue all of his accusers.

Trump has also been accused by several former Miss USA and Miss Teen USA contestants of entering their dressing rooms in 1997, 2000, 2001, and 2006, while they were dressing up. He owned the Miss Universe franchise and had said in an interview in 2005 that he could “get away with things like that”.

Donald Trump is still the president of the United States and he has actively supported all the men accused of sexual misconduct in his government and blamed the victims and media of a political smear campaign.