Sarah Silverman indicates her Bill Cosby rape joke may have gone too far

Comedian Sarah Silverman was criticized heavily Wednesday night after she tweeted a joke about being raped by Bill Cosby.

Silverman, who has more than 5 million followers, perhaps seeing the feedback the tweet was generating, later said she would have edited the joke to make it less graphic.

In the original tweet, which was not erased, Silverman said, “Bill Cosby gave me one of those ‘don’t be dirty’ lectures but I was unconscious & he was talking about my [anus].”

An hour later, she returned with a tamer version of the joke: “Bill Cosby gave me one of those ‘don’t be dirty’ lectures but I was rendered unconscious.”

Many who criticized Silverman -- who is known for her racy and often dirty humor -- said rape is never funny.

Still, there were plenty of people who tweeted that they laughed at the joke and that those who were offended needed to relax.

Cosby is at the center of numerous rape allegations from his past, with many of the women saying they were drugged and sexually assaulted.

Cosby has refused to comment on the allegations, but through his lawyer has repeatedly said they are false.

This week, NBC scrapped its planned Bill Cosby comedy pilot, and Netflix decided to postpone a scheduled stand-up special starring the legendary comedian that was slated to debut this month. The TV Land cable network removed reruns of “The Cosby Show” from its schedule.

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