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The Rise and Fall of Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby was charged
today with alleged aggravated indecent assault by Montgomery County (PA), and his bail set at $1 million. The action has been a long time coming as the 78-year-old comedian has been hit with numerous allegations of sexual assault by a variety of women.
Earlier this year, Ricochet co-founder Rob Long reviewed a poorly timed hagiography of the TV legend for Commentary and he shares his perspective on his rise and fall:
Published in Entertainment, LiteratureFor most of his astonishingly successful half-century in show business, Bill Cosby was in the right place at the right time. He emerged onto the comedy scene in the early 1960s, when the audience taste in comedy was moving from the tuxedo’ed nightclub comic to the storytelling style Cosby pioneered. By the middle of the decade, when American television audiences were eager for racially integrated casts, he co-starred with Robert Culp in a hit action-adventure show, I Spy. In the 1970s, he reaped a financial bonanza as one of the most sought-after commercial pitchmen in the country. And, in 1984, The Cosby Show premiered on the last-place television network, NBC, to ratings so celestial that they actually saved the network from collapse. In comedy, in business, in the culture, Bill Cosby was a master of timing.
Not so lucky, though, is his official biographer, Mark Whitaker, whose Cosby: His Life and Times was published last autumn directly into the teeth of the more than 30 rape accusations that have dogged the 77-year-old comedian. The book is a tedious and mostly slavish rehash of the ups and downs of Cosby’s amazing and trailblazing career in show business. We get snapshots of his early life, his teachers, his first halting experiments with stand-up comedy. We get endlessly detailed—and eye-glazingly boring—anecdotes about his early television series. We are told stories, pointlessly, about which hotel he and Culp, his I Spy co-star, decamped to in Tokyo during a trip to Japan. We are told stories about ponderous lectures he gave to his friends, his imperial (though always civilized) interactions with the writers and producers of his hit television shows, his struggles with fatherhood, his devotion to his wife.
When the sticky issue of Cosby’s infidelity forces its way into the narrative, it’s always cast in the past tense. He and his wife, Camille, are forever “working harder on their marriage.” They are said to have “moved on.” Cosby is described many times as “cutting back on his womanizing ways.” When he is accused, publicly, of fathering a child out of wedlock, his wife says: “All personal negative issues between Bill and me were resolved years ago. We are a united couple.”
In other words, Whitaker’s book manages to make sex and infidelity uninteresting…
Like most people, I enjoyed Cosby very much. One of the greatest stand-up performances (even though he sat throughout most of it) was ‘Bill Cosby Himself’. Richard Pryor owes everything to Cosby as his early act was a replica of Cosby which made him a regular on Merv Griffin (before he took a much edgier turn in the 70’s).
The Cosby Show wasn’t just funny, but at a time when the Crips and Bloods were making headlines, he demonstrated a healthy African American family during prime time. It became the benchmark of Must See TV and a significant social good.
I hate to think Cosby had a dark side although it looks probable at this point. He deserves his day in court and if guilty, it will be a sad day for him and us.
Will Montgomery County, PA now go after serial rapist Bill Clinton?
Bill Cosby, the King Croesus of Comedy. Maybe Cosby shouldn’t have taken that role in Mother, Juggs and Speed and been influenced by Larry Hagman’s character?
What bothers me the most about this case, based solely on what I’ve read, is that the complainant had waited a year before reporting the original event, and there was no prosecution. But now a criminal case is brought only after another 11 years have gone by.
There’s sound policy behind statutes of limitations. Witnesses disappear or pass away, memories fade, details and physical evidence are lost. In my state, if a rape is reported within a year, then there’s 10 years from the event to charge; if reported later than 1 year, then the time to charge criminally is reduced to three years from the event. I was surprised PA had a 12-year statute on these alleged crimes.
If the case wasn’t strong enough to charge a decade ago, why is it any better now, other than piling on?
Fritz makes a very good point. I think David captures our first reactions, “I hate to think . . ..”
We all felt at first that this was perhaps ‘gold-digging.’ The accusers who emerged (and there are dozens!) all failed to do something when it allegedly happened. While the trauma of such abuse is good reason for some to delay, they almost all failed to pursue this except for one woman in the Athletic Department of Temple University in 2005. She broke the pattern. She reported it. Then it sat.
We knew of rumors and stories about Bill Cosby at the Playboy mansion and the reported cash settlements to some victims who alleged he raped them. We heard reports of a paternity suit. None of this was ever confirmed. Yet, it was hard to seperate that Bill Cosby from the tennis playing buddy on I Spy, the funny guy in the Jello commerical, the guy who told a funny story of his experience that was not racial and in fact universal, or Dr. Huxtable on the Cosby Show.
After we heard his alleged modus operandi repeated a few times, it seemed to confirm a pattern of copy-cat gold digging. Not knowing the women personally and unable to make an honest assessment of their veracity along with the appearance of a celebrity attorney and the repetition of the same story made this appear like opportunism aimed at a very wealthy, though less than chaste man – the perfect target.
But when the number of accusers crept past 6, to 10, then 20, . . . all with the same or similar stories, it was over. We knew there must be something to the story. There were far too many people. All providing details that wove together a pattern of premeditation. Women began stepping forward with little to gain and lots to lose. They appeared harmed, teary and vulnerable. They seemed emboldened by the others to do something they all regretted not doing earlier. They were wives and mothers and grandmothers. All saying he drugged them and raped or attempted to rape them.
It was like watching the Duke lacrosse case all over again. Your mind went in one direction and gradually you realized the details raised doubts. It was easy seeing rich boys of privilege (lacrosse, Duke), doing something boorish and then a few getting completely out of control.
But Bill, that took some soul searching. We wondered, why would all these attractive women find themselves alone with him in his home, apartment, or hotel room wanting to talk about their careers? Who makes such mistakes? Who is so naive? And if they were not naive, what were they up to alone with him in such private surroudings? But we began to realize our rational minds were beginning to overtake our emotional minds. It was like finding out Robert Young (Marcus Welby) was a serial killer, … or Sheriff Andy Griffith, a heroin dealer. Cosby’s TV personalities had become a part of us and our families. We fought the facts until they began to overwhelm us.
And now we have a close friend, as close as a relative, a person who we welcomed into our home, accused of terrible crimes. Most of us know he is guilty. And we know this is not another Duke lacrosse case. Whether there is a conviction or not, the preponderance of the evidence is too heavy.
We saw this on the national news – I said to my husband, “how completely sad what has happened to Bill Cosby” – he said he brought it on himself……. I can’t help but think something else – is Bill Clinton that different?
Did all these criminal and civil cases arise only after Bill Cosby started making the case – very publicly and vociferously and, worst of all, persuasively – against the hard-left political orthodoxy that has done so much to hurt black families and neighborhoods?
Is the recent swell of accusations, encouraged by sensational, bad press, more about shutting him up than anything else?
I ask sincerely. Perhaps I am missing something.
I do not maintain that those suffer legal wrong should not pursue the wrongdoer. But is that the core of what is happening here?
I think this is the case. He is famous, wealthy and Black and would have gotten a pass if he was demonstrably more liberal. The left knows how to circle the wagons (microaggression!) to protect their own.
Nope, but Bill Clinton never publicly took un-PC positions on black culture as far as I’m aware.
The Cosby thing is very depressing. I still look fondly on Cosby’s old standup and sitcom, but the man’s legacy has been forever and deeply tarnished (and it appears rightfully so).
I don’t. And a preponderance of circumstantial evidence means a pile of no evidence.
There is no justice in this anywhere I look. And I will not consider Bill Cosby guilty under the present series of accusations. At this point, there could not be anything other than a tainted jury, there has been so much press coverage. And how does one defend oneself against an eleven-year-old charge? Witnesses’ memories are not good and hard evidence doesn’t exist.
Are people really defending him? Sad perhaps but I hope they throw the book at him. What a despicable human being to do that to women. Not only is it sick, but it is so dishonorable. When I was a kid, people who did things like this were labeled perverts. A “pervert” should be stamped on Cosby’s legacy.
Crosby is done. The truth at this point does not matter much and is most likely unknowable. He positioned himself as opposition of the left, maybe even a conservative icon. Then he left himself vulnerable, and they are going to take him apart for it. I hope he is guilty, because what is about to happen should not ever happen to an innocent man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Souljah_moment
eye witness accounts aren’t circumstantial evidence…
Driving home this evening I was listening to the Melissa Harris-Perry Show on MSNBC. (Insert joke here.) She and a panelist were discussing Cosby, and both agreed that as much as they were upset to see a black man “doing the perp walk” they found it extremely difficult to defend him because of his politically incorrect stance on black youths’ irresponsibility, their low-hanging pants, and the way they don’t speak standard English.
I found their discussion remarkable for two reasons. First, it really matters to them that he is black. And second, it matters even more that he is perceived by them to be a political enemy. Their heads are, to paraphrase Joe Biden, literally exploding.
The modern left has always been communist at heart: the only sin is disloyalty to the party.
It is hard to reconcile the public persona I grew up experiencing (reruns of I Spy, listening to my father’s copy of his record “Why Is There Air?”, his appearances hosting Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Picture Pages, Jell-o commercials, The Cosby Show) with the reports of a much more sinister nature. It is a reminder that we don’t know the real person just because we see them play a role on TV. He’s not yet been proven guilty, but even the details of things he has admitted to show there is another side away from the camera. Part of Hollywood is selling the lie that the actor is the good guy he plays on film, and the audience is more than happy to be complicit in going along with that lie. Sometimes too complicit.
1000 other Hollywooders are guilty of worse, you can be sure. But they know how to bow to their superiors.
I stand corrected. Although I don’t think Clinton criticizing somebody’s endorsement of black-on-white-homicide is anywhere near as un-PC as these words by Cosby:
Why do I think that this would have been left in the category “Ol’ Bill, ain’t he a card?” if he was a liberal advocate rather than a conservative one?
If he’s guilty (which I think he probably is), then he should, by all means, face the punishment.
But, yeah, it’s upsetting seeing hypocrites in Hollywood defend and work with someone like Roman Polanski, but break out the pitchforks for Mel Gibson for lesser sins.
I’m guessing these panelists are not fans of the statement “Justice is blind.”
A while back, CNN moved real news to put Anthony Bourdain on prime time. But yesterday evening, it booted Bourdain to put on a show about the Cosby allegations. When do we talk about CNN’s abuse of the word “news”?
Cosby is probably guilty but I would have preferred if the women had come forward right after the crime. For one thing, it would have saved many other women from the same ordeal.
I hope the next time the Ricochet editors post a story on Cosby, they will cast a bit more of a critical eye on what is happening. It doesn’t seem to be merely about a celebrity being charged with criminal activity.
Many of the women did come forward after the crime. But they were treated like Republicans in Hollywood. Ignored, bullied, and blacklisted. You really think any of the execs at NBC wanted a Rape allegation against Bill Cosby coming to light during the Cosby Show run?
When he was making them billions of dollars they were willing to protect him. But we now live in the internet age. And just as the internet has allowed Conservatives in Hollywood to connect and realize they are not alone, the internet has allowed these victims to realize they were not alone and connect and prosecute there charges.
I wasn’t to sure I really believed it till I heard about the drugging of his victims. That certainly sounded real enough to me.
If the victims came forward to NBC management or some other private entity then they are idiots. Private entities have no authority or responsibility to prosecute a criminal case. They should have went to the police. If they went to the police and the police buried the case because of pressure by private entities then both the entities that initiated the pressure and the police that caved to it need to be prosecuted.
OK, but someone who’s better acquainted tell me, please: is there any objective evidence? Or are we to be more convinced by 100 allegations than one? I’m serious. I’m willing to believe he’s guilty, but the stuff they have on the TV always seems to mention that he offered someone a drink and some pills and they took them. Then they describe an incident, then there’s an out-of-court settlement or there isn’t. But never any approach to the police, except in that one case where charges aren’t filed. Am I off base here?
Autistic License–Not to say I *approve* of celebrities drugging women in order to rape them, but some of us grew up assuming one ought to exercise a bit of caution and restraint in the big wide world.
The thought that always occurs to me when I hear about this story, and assuming that Cosby is guilty, is why would he risk his freedom and his livelihood doing something so wrong and so illegal when a man with his resources and power could have had starlets or hookers accommodate all his desires at zero risk? He could have paid a Vegas call girl $1,000 to take the pills and let him “rape” her, for example.
Along with the evil nature of the accusations, it just seems so stupid.
Until Bill Clinton is similarly charged, this is racism, pure and simple.