PHILADELPHIA – A federal judge yesterday denied a bid for a gag order by Bill Cosby’s lawyers in a lawsuit alleging the entertainer drugged and sexually molested a woman.

In denying Cosby’s bid to keep discovery phase information confidential, the judge said allegations made during those proceedings might cause Cosby serious embarrassment but that alone did not justify such an order.

The entertainer is being sued by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, who says he drugged and groped her at his suburban Philadelphia home in January 2004.