COMEDIAN Bill Cosby, in an interview that aired Saturday, declined to answer questions by a National Public Radio journalist about accusations of sexual assault that resurfaced in recent weeks.

    Cosby, 77, responded by shaking his head to signal “No” at least twice when NPR’s Scott Simon asked him to respond to the sexual assault accusations, including those made by former aspiring actress Barbara Bowman in an op-ed in the Washington Post earlier last week.

    Bowman said Cosby had assaulted her on multiple occasions in 1985, when she was 17, including one occasion when he drugged her at his New York City brownstone. Bowman said she never went to the police because she feared she would not be believed.

    She said she had prepared to testify in a lawsuit filed by another woman, Andrea Constand, who claimed that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her. That suit was settled in 2006 for an undisclosed amount of money and Bowman never testified.

    Cosby has never been charged with the alleged crimes. The allegations resurfaced in October when comedian Hannibal Buress called Cosby a “rapist” during a stand-up routine.

    Cosby was asked by Simon about the accusations during an interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition about 62 African art pieces he and his wife Camille lent to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Earlier last week, Cosby got an unwelcome response to his Twitter feed request for followers to create memes about him, and was barraged with memes about the rape accusations.

    He later canceled an appearance on “Late Show with David Letterman.” (SD-Agencies)