Bill Cosby: Will we ever feel the same about him?

chicagotribune ^ | DEC 2 2014 | Clarence Page

[Brother Cracker]

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. Bill Cosby resigns from Temple University's board of trustees Bill Cosby resigns from Temple University's board of trustees Tribune wire report

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.

[Ditter]

I am shocked and disappointed, very disappointed.

[PeterPrinciple]

ram·pant adjective \ˈram-pənt also -ˌpant\ —used to describe something that is very common or that is spreading very quickly and in a way that is difficult to control : growing quickly and in a way that is difficult to control --------------------------- So how common was it? Happening in every state and city? As I said, it was working it's way out. It was and is the nature of man. I didn't say it didn't happen. But it was not rampant as the movies and media would have us believe.

[Mr Rogers]

My posting history:

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:mrrogers/index?tab=comments;brevity=full;options=no-change

2 Cosby threads in 10 days. Comments on religion, A-10s and CAS, black segregation, homosexuality, Garth Brooks, McCain, the movie version of The Virginian, Star Wars, shaving, college, pickup trucks and an earthquake in between.

Yep, I’m just obsessed with Cosby, aren’t I...

[ansel12]

Judging by the number of posts you devote to Cosby threads that you get on and your aggression in them, your playing disinterested and using the tired claim of only having looked into one of the claims, is pretty dishonest.

You are pretty dedicated to defending Cosby and attacking the women, so you can drop the act.

[miss marmelstein]

Very true. Also, the vaudeville circuit was terrible - filthy hotels, managers and theater owners who cheated people out of their money. The play/movie “Gypsy” gets into this. I think the Marx Brothers only married hookers and chorus girls - I don’t think there was one “nice” lady in the bunch - including Frank Sinatra’s wife, Barbara Marx, who is rumored to have been a high-class hooker.

I’ve heard about Frank Fay. Al Jolson was considered one of the meanest men in show biz along with Irving Berlin, lol!

[SteveH]

One way to look at it is that the story is actually much bigger than Cosby. It is an indictment of the entire show-biz industry. The canonical fantasy is that a starlet is discovered by a producer when he orders a burger and shake at a drugstore counter. The reality is that many of the starlets were sexually molested by powerful people. These people were very famous and well respected. Many of them are still alive and relatively unrecognized in public eye for these abuses.

[Dagnabitt]

Just need one civil trial with public testimony and depositions to forever bury the career/legacy of this greasy rapist.

[SteveH]

it sounds like the guy has deep seated issues, such as resentment of white women for some reason. i am no shrink but i imagine deep seated issues go back to events in early childhood. eg, perhaps he or someone close to him was mistreated when he was very young and if it was someone else he witnessed it firsthand.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

“One way to look at it is that the story is actually much bigger than Cosby. It is an indictment of the entire show-biz industry. The canonical fantasy is that a starlet is discovered by a producer when he orders a burger and shake at a drugstore counter. The reality is that many of the starlets were sexually molested by powerful people. These people were very famous and well respected. Many of them are still alive and relatively unrecognized in public eye for these abuses.”

I would agree with what you say. On the other hand, stories about the ‘casting couch’ have been around for decades. I first heard of the ‘casting couch’ as a teenager in the 1950s. The depravity has been known for a long time. Bringing it to the forefront yet again reinforces the ‘low-lifes’ which celebrity breeds.