Women's group gathers 13,000 signatures for petition to revoke Bill Cosby's Medal of Freedom
Could Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal of Freedom actually be revoked?
President Obama doesn't know if it's even possible, saying a press conference on Wednesday: "There is no precedent for revoking a medal. We do not have that mechanism."
Cosby clowned around in 2002 when he was awarded the Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor. Everyone, including former First Lady Nancy Reagan, laughed because President George W. Bush had a hard time attaching the medal around Cosby's neck and finally Cosby just grabbed it from him.
Read: Beverly Johnson Reacts to Bill Cosby's Deposition: 'I Wasn't Surprised. It Is Sad.'
But no one is laughing after President Obama's shocking statement about Cosby that's making front page news.
"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 is rape," Obama said.
SEE: Bill Cosby's accusers:
Angela Rose is Executive Director of Pave, a women's advocacy group that has started a WhiteHouse.gov petition calling for Cosby's presidential Medal of Freedom to be revoked. It has nearly 13,000 signatures and growing.
She told INSIDE EDITION: "We need to send a message to America to say that there is zero tolerance for sexual assault in this great nation."
Read: Richard Pryor's Widow Has Harsh Words for Bill Cosby
Some of the more than 40 women who say they were drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby are also speaking out in the aftermath of Obama's bombshell remarks.
Joan Tarshis, who says she was drugged and raped by Cosby in 1969, had this to say: "It was very courageous of him to make a statement like that. The Medal of Freedom should be taken away from Bill Cosby. We were not free when we were drugged and assaulted."
The anti-Cosby tsunami even reached the ESPY awards when host Joel McHale joked about Ultimate Fighting Champion Ronda Rousey: "She's knocked out more women than Bill Cosby. Oh, I am sorry. I mean Dr. Bill Cosby!"
Originally published on Inside Edition
