Bill Cosby: Will we ever feel the same about him?
Clarence Page
Chicago Tribune
December 2, 2014
When asked about recent allegations against Bill Cosby, Chris Rock fell into what for him is an unusual position. He was at a loss for words..
"I don't know what to say," he told New York magazine. "What do you say? I hope it's not true. That's all you can say. I really do. I grew up on Cosby. I love Cosby, and I just hope it's not true."
A lot of us longtime Cosby fans have been at a loss for words ever since long-simmering rumors boiled over in recent weeks that Cosby allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted women over many years.
Then Rock mused: "It's a weird year for comedy. We lost Robin, we lost Joan and we kind of lost Cosby."
Yes, we have. Unlike the losses of Robin Williams and Joan Rivers, Cosby is still alive, but that's more than we can say for his comedy career or his stature as a civic role model.
The bad news for "Cos" keeps on coming.
Monday, he resigned from his alma mater Temple University's board of trustees under pressure from an online petition campaign.
Other colleges that have honored the 77-year-old actor, comedian and philanthropic supporter of historically black colleges and universities also have begun to sever ties with him.
Earlier a Netflix special, a new NBC show planned for next fall and a growing number of dates on his "Cosby 77" comedy tour have been canceled or "indefinitely postponed."
After years of enjoying him in roles as varied as Cliff Huxtable on his groundbreaking "Cosby" show to Jell-O Pudding Pops commercials, can Cosby ever make us laugh again?
Like every accused person, he deserves the presumption of innocence. But we're talking here about the court of public opinion, not a court of law.
The charges are not by any means new. Through the years Cosby has faced other similar allegations and steadfastly denied them all. In 2006, he settled for an undisclosed amount of money a civil lawsuit that alleged similar charges.
But if Cosby thought he had put that behind him, he had not counted on today's social media and a new public sensitivity to rape allegations.
A video clip of comedian Hannibal Buress calling Cosby a rapist went viral in November when the count of accusing women was only 13. More women have since gone public.
If silence can ever be deafening, it certainly was when Cosby, with his wife, Camille, sitting next to him, greeted NPR's Scott Simon's questions about the allegation with nothing more than a shake of his head.
He gave a similar response to an Associated Press reporter earlier and has since canceled scheduled TV interviews.
And we, his longtime fans eager to give him the benefit of our doubts, wait for something more to hold onto.
Sure, Cosby may want to avoid saying anything in public in order to avoid even more legal claims against him. But as well as that might work in a court of law, it does nothing to reassure the court of public opinion.
This is hardly the first time that a huge fan base has grown up around a popular entertainer and role model, only to find he had feet of clay. But one would be hard-pressed to match Cosby, who took on a new mission a decade ago with his forceful calls for his fellow African-Americans to build stronger families, communities and work ethics.
The heavy cloud of scandal, thickened in this case by the horrendous nature of the accusations, tests our ability to separate the public figure from the private human.
Scandalized celebrities as varied as Woody Allen, Martha Stewart and numerous athletes have managed to make comebacks.
It is possible to hold conflicting images in our heads. But Bill Cosby's fall is huge because he has been held up so highly in our heads and hearts. We may still enjoy his old recordings, but we've lost the Cosby we knew. The title of his most recent stand-up TV special, "Far from Finished," should have a question mark behind it.
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