Cos and Effect

The recent allegations against Bill Cosby have become a media obsession.  I can't recall a time when somebody so famous was so vilified in the media when there were no criminal charges, no confessions of wrongdoing, and no evidence was presented to support any of the allegations. 

Before diving into this subject let's do a quick review of Cosby's story.  He was born in 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he was raised.  He participated in sports and theater in school, but dropped out of high school after failing the tenth grade.  After working a few jobs he entered the US Navy and served four years.  He finished his high school equivalency while in the navy and after his stint he went to Temple University from 1961-1962 on a track and field scholarship.  During that time he worked as a bartender in a local club where he began doing a stand-up routine.  After experiencing success with comedy he quit Temple and left Philly for New York.  He was soon touring all over the country doing his comedy routine, and landed his first Tonight Show gig in 1963.  That led to a Warner Brothers record deal where he had several hit comedy albums and more TV appearances.  In 1965 he was signed to NBC's new show "I Spy", co-starring with Robert Culp.  The show ran for three seasons and made Bill Cosby a household name.  Following I Spy he did two seasons of a sitcom called "The Bill Cosby Show", which was followed by a couple of variety shows called "The New Bill Cosby Show" and "Cos", and a the very successfull cartoon show "Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids" from 1972-1979.  From 1984-1992 he had his biggest TV hit with "The Cosby Show" where he played a doctor married to an attorney who was raising five kids. 

I mentioned all of this to establish the fact that the man has had a successful career on television and in comedy for fifty years, and that he also was a recording artist with comedy albums which were very popular back in the days before cable TV and the internet.  One of the albums that he did included a bit about "Spanish Fly", a potion that supposedly could put the ladies in an amorous mood.

       

Back in that era people talked about Spanish Fly, but as Cosby points out in this routine it was mostly the lore of stupid adolescent boys.  In reality Spanish Fly only affects men and is potentially lethal.  My theory is that while this routine was considered funny in its day, in the politically correct world of the last thirty years people began to be offended as they listened to this bit, and rumors began to spread about Bill Cosby being a creep who takes advantage of women after disabling them.  Seriously, would a rich and famous TV star need to do something like that to get women?  The rumors were no doubt dismissed until he admitted to having an affair with a woman who tried to extort money from him back in 1997, but even then most people didn't give them too much consideration.

In 2004 Mr. Cosby gave a speech at the NAACP's commomoration of the 50th anniversary of Brow vs. Board of Education where he essentially made the argument that most of Black America's problems today are internal, and that equal education is meaningless if people aren't interested in educating themselves.  Since then he has repeatedly voiced similar views in various venues across the country on various occasions in what have been called "Call Out" events.  YouTube makes these comments easily accessible.  In 2007 he co-athored "Come on, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors" with Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint where the two of them elaborated on these issues. 

A year after that 2004 speech allegations of sexual assault surfaced as Andrea Constand, the director of operations for Temple University’s women’s basketball team, accused Cosby of inappropriate touching.  When no criminal charges were filed due to insufficient evidence, Constand took the matter to civil court seeking $150,000 in damages, which led to a settlement for an undisclosed amount in 2006.

Also in 2005 California attorney Tamara Green alleged on The Today Show that Cosby sexually assaulted her in the '70s.  Cosby's attorney said “Miss Green’s allegations are absolutely false. Mr. Cosby does not know the name Tamara Green or Tamara Lucier [her maiden name], and the incident she describes did not happen."  No criminal or civil case was ever pursued in that allegation.  In 2006 Barbara Bowman accused Cosby of several assaults.  This also led to no criminal or civil proceedings.

The fact that these allegations became public shortly after the Call Out events began reminds me of the allegations against black conservative Justice Clarence Thomas when he was nominated for the Supreme Court.  There is no question that when a famous black person in America begins to part from the party line of the black political establishment they are soon marked for character assassination.   

Fast forward now to October 16 of this year when a comedian named Hannibal Buress did a bit about Cosby being a rapist and the video of it was posted on the Philadelphia Magazine website, which ignited the current furor, debate, and deluge of accusers coming forward. 

Among the newer accusers are:

• Janice Dickinson, a famous model who claimed that Cosby drugged and raped her in 1982.  She left this allegation out of her book "No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World’s First Supermodel", however.  When asked why she omitted it she claimed that Cosby pressured her into leaving it out, yet when asked why she included a passage about intimacy with Jack Nicholson she said "The reason that line made the book is because he told me not to say anything. And I will never, ever respond to anybody--man, woman, vegetable, or mineral--who tells me to keep my mouth shut. Alter what I've been through, I don't think so, pal."  Dickinson has admitted to drug and alcohol addiction, and claims to have had sex with 1,000 men.  When asked what it was like to have a three-way with singer Grace Jones and actor Dolph Lundgren she said "I don't remember. We were all so high."  Her former boyfriend Sylvester Stallone said that she's a publicity hound who will say anything to get attention, after she claimed that he injected her with steroids in her sleep.  And just last year the New York Post reported that she was a million dollars in debt and had filed for bankruptcy.  Not exactly the most credible witness when it comes to allegations about drugs and sex.
•  Carla Ferrigno, wife of "Incredible Hulk" bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno who claimed that Cosby stole a kiss at a party in 1967.  (By that standard I suppose I'm guilty of sexual assault.)
• Louisa Moritz, an actress who claims that Cosby forced sodomy backstage of The Tonight Show in 1971.
• Joan Tarshis, an aspiring writer who claimed that Cosby raped her in 1969.  Apparently she was so traumatized by the experience that she went back for more a month later, according to her own account.

Some people are inclined to believe the allegations because there are so many women coming forward with similar stories, but that isn't the way our system works.  One credible, provable, allegation trumps any number of unprovable allegations.  With no charges or convictions to go on, I think you have to just file these allegations in the "maybe" folder. 

If it sounds like I'm a Bill Cosby apologist, well maybe I am.  The man has earned a stellar reputation in the industry and has managed to remain viable for fifty years, and was willing to put his career and marketability on the line in order to address issues that he felt needed to be addressed in the black community.  As Hannibal Buress himself admitted, he doesn't like Bill Cosby because he's "smug" and has been telling African Americans to "pull their pants up".  

Yeah, I think Cos deserves the benefit of the doubt here, especially considering that not one case has apparently been solid enough to bring an indictment.  In fact, I'd be inclined to dismiss completely these decades-old allegations from women who hung around the sex and drugs saturated entertainment world of the last five decades except for a couple of things.

1. Cosby did apparently pay a settlement to Andrea Constand, who wasn't part of the entertainment world, and reportedly had 13 women prepared to testify about similar behavior on his part.
2. Cosby's attorney Martin Singer issued a non-denial denial, which is a statement that appears to be a denail but in fact never really denies the allegations.  The statement read "Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment.  He would like to thank all his fans for the outpouring of support and assure them that, at age 77, he is doing his best work.  There will be no further statement from Mr. Cosby or any of his representatives,"   He didn't say that the allegations weren't true, but that they were "discredited".  In other words the credibility of the person making the allegations was called into question.  That of course has nothing to do with the veracity of the claims, nor does the claim that he is doing his best work.  And of course, the final sentence has proven not to be the case as Mr. Singer has issued other statements about the accusers and their backgrounds.

What I and many others like me want to hear is a categorical denial from either Mr. Cosby or his attorney, saying that all of these allegations are lies and that he has never drugged, sexually assaulted, or raped anybody ... EVER!  Until I hear that I'm afraid that as much as I like and support the guy, and despite the weakness of many of the allegations, there's going to be this nagging suspicion that maybe he's hiding something.