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Kathrine McKee (Screengrab from New York Daly News)
Former Detroiter Kathy McKee, who has been a Hollywood actress, the girlfriend of the late entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., and a casting agency owner, isn't backing down.
She alleges Bill Cosby raped her in a Detroit hotel room in 1974, and that Cosby, through his lawyers, has called her a liar. She is suing for defamation of character, and has now petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case, reports Patricia Montemurri in the Detroit Free Press:
McKee’s lawyers argue that women who go public about being victims of sexual misconduct by a well-known person — in order to bring attention to the problem and reveal their assailant — should be able to do so without having their reputations sullied. They contend it shouldn’t be harder for them to sue for defamation, as a result.
“All Kathy ever did was to stand up and say Me Too,” said her lawyer Dilan Esper. “She hasn’t gone on any publicity tour based on this (or) written a book. … She just said ‘He raped me.’ "
The odds are against the U.S. Supreme Court granting a request to hear a case. Numbers vary, but some reports show that less than 1 percent of the requests by plaintiffs are heard.
If she were victorious, the court would order the lower court to allow the case to proceed.
McKee splits her time between Hollywood and Las Vegas for work.