Bill Cosby allegations

[Satchmo Distel]

I don't see a thread on this story so thought I should open one.

From what I can ascertain, there are multiple claims of drugging and raping. The time that has elapsed since the events were said to have occurred might make them difficult to prove, but at present the press seems to be taking them very seriously in the US.

The irony is that Cosby seems to have unwittingly initiated the new wave of allegations through a Twitter stunt:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/11/15/bill-cosby-stays-silent-on-npr-interview-will-no-longer-on-appear-on-david-lettermans-show/

[ursus arctos]

Bill Cosby allegations

For those of us who grew up almost idolising the guy, it's really very distressing, though of course nothing compared to what his victims had to endure.

[WOM]

Bill Cosby allegations

Indeed. Also distressing is the way the allegations have gained very, very little traction in the public arena for almost thirty years. But a male comedian finally puts voice to them and they catch on like wildfire.

Maybe it's not the male voice thing. Maybe it's that someone/anyone stood up on a stage and finally just said it "Bill Cosby's a rapist, and let's see him sue me for saying it". Distressing either way.

[Satchmo Distel]

Bill Cosby allegations

It also raises the possibility that all his guff about family values was a camouflage for his own predatory behaviour, or some kind of wierd cognitive dissonance or projection of his own sexual character on to younger African Americans.

(Which I also think is what has riled up the comedian whose video has gone viral)

[G-Man]

Bill Cosby allegations

He doesn't have much to say in defence. Interviewed by someone called Scott Simon for something called Weekend Edition, it went down like this

SIMON: This question gives me no pleasure Mr. Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days.

[SILENCE]

SIMON: You're shaking your head no. I'm in the news business. I have to ask the question. Do you have any response to those charges?

SILENCE]

SIMON: Shaking your head no. There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. I want to give you the chance.

[SILENCE]

From here

[Borracho]

Bill Cosby allegations

I remember reading an interview with Janis Ian years ago in which she referred to him not being able to "keep his dick in his trousers". (He had publicly criticised her because he didn't like the subject matter of one of her songs.) She stopped short of calling him a rapist though.

I had always thought Cosby was a bit of a pompous wanker, but these allegations are something else.

[ursus arctos]

Bill Cosby allegations

G-Man, Weekend Edition is National Public Radio's flagship weekend show, and Scott Simon is its long time host.

It's a big deal is US public radio terms, roughly equivalent to Radio 4 in the UK.

[Guy Profumo]

Bill Cosby allegations

satchmo76 wrote: I don't see a thread on this story so thought I should open one.

From what I can ascertain, there are multiple claims of drugging and raping. The time that has elapsed since the events were said to have occurred might make themy difficult to prove, but at present the press seems to be taking them very seriously in the US.

The irony is that Cosby seems to have unwittingly initiated the new wave of allegations through a Twitter stunt:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/11/15/bill-cosby-stays-silent-on-npr-interview-will-no-longer-on-appear-on-david-lettermans-show/

Link goosed?

[Guy Profumo]

Bill Cosby allegations

Green Calx wrote: I remember reading an interview with Janis Ian years ago in which she referred to him not being able to "keep his dick in his trousers". (He had publicly criticised her because he didn't like the subject matter of one of her songs.) She stopped short of calling him a rapist though.

I had always thought Cosby was a bit of a pompous wanker, but these allegations are something else.

I always thought The Cosby Show was desperately unfunny anodyne shite.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Bill Cosby allegations

Guy Potger wrote:

I remember reading an interview with Janis Ian years ago in which she referred to him not being able to "keep his dick in his trousers". (He had publicly criticised her because he didn't like the subject matter of one of her songs.) She stopped short of calling him a rapist though.

I had always thought Cosby was a bit of a pompous wanker, but these allegations are something else.

I always thought The Cosby Show was desperately unfunny anodyne shite.

Growing up in a sink estate in a rather disfunctional family I remember envying the prosperous middle-class bliss portrayed on the show. This is embarrassing to admit, but I actually remember on one occasion as a child dreaming that I had been adopted by the Huxtables, which is not only slightly pathetic but also a bit ironic after these revelations.

[WOM]

Bill Cosby allegations

No embarrassment necessary. The Cosby Show went a very long way in conveying the message to middle America that blacks weren't still 'up and coming', but had indeed arrived.

There's a narrative that threads nicely from Cosby's early Fat Albert show, through the '70s' Sanford and Son, Good Times and What's Happenin'? and The Jeffersons that ended squarely on The Cosby Show. Instead of working-class chancers, jobbers or labourers, they were professional and affluent.They made jokes, but weren't the butt of them.

The ideal family that Cosby's portrayed sent a strong message that black America was just like you in a lot of ways, and that if you weren't down with that, they you were falling behind.

[Satchmo Distel]

Bill Cosby allegations

I thought it was just a vehicle for Cosby to do his schtick, with the other actors consigned to being his sidekicks; a bit like Cosby = The Fonz.

[Incandenza]

Bill Cosby allegations

I remember first reading about the allegations either during the Woody Allen/Dylan Farrow storm earlier this year. Something on Jezebel, I think, essentially saying "uh...is anyone going to pay attention to the numerous allegations made against Bill Cosby?" It's strange--if you do a Google search for hits prior to the recent coverage, there are results from plenty of big sources, so it was clearly being discussed. But it seems like it never became a widespread story.

I like Hannibal Burress, I think he's really funny. Kind of strange that this has been the most publicity he's received and that it's become such a topic of discussion now.

[matt j]

Bill Cosby allegations

I've both wanted to start a thread, and been afraid to. I guess because when I first heard of it (probably the identical instance that Inca says there), I didn't want to believe it.

Now though... I think the allegations are sticking and it's hard to ignore and dismiss.

I've always really liked Cosby, and spent a good portion of my youth watching and memorizing 'Bill Cosby Himself'. My wife even took me to see him do a set in DC not too many years ago for a birthday present.

His 60s and 70s records were (in my mind) indisputably groundbreaking and really funny. I used to think they would stand up really well... Now the thought of them just makes me depressed, because it all seems a lie.

I haven't really wanted to pay too much attention to his 'social' stuff of recent years, but The Cosby Show was certainly a cultural touchstone for most of the US.

So yeah, distressing... but all my sadness should really go to the victims who have been ignored.

(Not really the same thing, but I just happened to watch the Lance Armstrong documentary that's been running on cable lately... and the ability for men in idolized positions to just live a lie, without any appearance of guilt... it is really vomit-inducing.)

[G-Man]

Bill Cosby allegations

It might be a bit of a dodgy sidetrack, given the subject matter, but I never found Cosby's stand-up very funny. I wonder if his son, as of "my son is so dumb" fame, did.

[WOM]

Bill Cosby allegations

His only son was murdered, but I guess that's neither here nor there to your point.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Bill Cosby allegations

"what's a cubit."

I never was that fond of the Cosby Show as a child, preferring instead my dad's records of his stand up. this slew of historical sex abuse cases against entertainers from the fifties and onwards, makes you wonder just how entitled did 'famous' people feel back in the day?

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Bill Cosby allegations

Green Calx wrote:

I had always thought Cosby was a bit of a pompous wanker,

Thank God I'm not the only one. Exactly that. And he's been as funny as napalm over kids. His stand up is less funny than watching dry paint dry.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Bill Cosby allegations

Guy Potger wrote: I always thought The Cosby Show was desperately unfunny anodyne shite.

So you're either a child prodigy or pretty old?

[G-Man]

Bill Cosby allegations

WOM wrote: His only son was murdered, but I guess that's neither here nor there to your point.

Oh, I had completely forgotten about that.

I get very uncomfortable with comedians talking about their children. Cosby did that "My son is such an idiot" shtick, and Louis C.K. is doing a similar thing about his daughters. If I was the kid of a comedian who does that, I expect that I'd have a very complicated relationship with such a dad.

[Bored Of Education]

Bill Cosby allegations

I don't know, it can be done with love. Dave Allen did great routines on his teenagers losing the power of speech and speaking grunts which I now found myself paraphrasing.

I thought The Cosby Show was brilliant. As simple as that. Like the Wonder Years, it was genuine family viewing and, unlike a lot of UK sitcoms, brought in a touch of social commentary.

[Gangster Octopus]

Bill Cosby allegations

I never saw The Cosby Show. Was it shown in the UK?

[nmrfox]

Bill Cosby allegations

Yeah GO, used to be on early Sunday evenings on Channel 4 in the early-mid 90's.

[Satchmo Distel]

Bill Cosby allegations

Joan Rivers used her daughter a lot for comedy material in stand-up but that was I think consensual, after a long rift caused by her husband's (the daughter's father's) suicide.

I agree with the comment above that Cosby's sense of entitlement fits a wider trend that can be compared to the paedo rings, although I wonder if Cosby was a lone wolf or some others were enabling him.

[G-Man]

Bill Cosby allegations

This is grim.This is grim.

Through the haze I thought I was being clever when I told him I had an infection and he would catch it and his wife would know he had sex with someone. But he just found another orifice to use.

What a pig.