Cosby said he was not criticising all African-Americans

The Cosby Show star said some younger people were embracing what he said amounted to a damaging educational gap.

Addressing a black civil rights conference, Cosby attacked "curse" words that he said were used by some black men in the US.

Defending criticism of similar comments in May, he said his accusers were trying to hide "dirty laundry".

"I'm talking about profanity. I'm talking about people cursing at each other," Cosby told his audience in Chicago.

'Going nowhere'

"Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2.30 every day, it's cursing... as they're walking up and down the street.

"They think they're hip. They can't read, they can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere," he said.

Cosby, 66, was speaking at the annual conference of Rainbow/Push, the civil rights organisation led by black activist Rev Jesse Jackson.

He said he was not speaking of the entire black community when he said too many black parents were not doing enough to shoulder the responsibility for educating their children.

He suggested black parents should take a more active role in helping curtail the soaring high school dropout rate and pregnancy rate among black teens.

Cosby said he did not care if his words were used against black Americans by racist whites.

"Let them talk," he said.