I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to watch The Cosby Show in the same way again.
I loved that show. Was a fan of it ever since I was a little kid. For a lot of us growing up in the 1980s, Bill Cosby, who played the funny, wise, patriarch of the Huxtable family, was the closest thing America had to a pop culture father. For much of Cosby’s career, in fact, he positioned himself as a loving (if sometimes overwhelmed) dad. His stand-up routines are slathered in tales from the home front. He even wrote a bestselling book called Fatherhood. And we’ve lauded him and his family-friendly ways in this very blog.
But recently, allegations that Cosby drugged and raped multiple women over many years have gathered new steam. One of Cosby’s accusers, Barbara Bowman, came forward in a column published last week by The Washington Post, saying that Cosby “brainwashed me into viewing him as a father figure, and then assaulted me multiple times” while she was appearing on The Cosby Show in 1985.
And just yesterday, supermodel Janice Dickinson became the 15th woman to accuse Cosby, telling Entertainment Tonight that the comedian drugged and raped her in 1982.Vulture.com has published a timeline of the various charges, which you can find by clicking here. But be warned, reading some of the detailed allegations is difficult (and certainly not advised at all for kids).
For the most part, he’s been silent on the allegations. When a host on National Public Radio asked him if he wanted to respond, Cosby simply shook his head.
It was an awkward moment wrapped up in a tragic story, no matter how it ends. The View co-host Nicolle Wallace summed it up neatly when the count was two shy of current: “Either 13 women were raped by someone too powerful to face the criminal justice system or an innocent man is being falsely accused.”
So, a reminder of my own: These are accusations—salacious and numerous, yes, but still, strictly speaking, unproven. There are a great many directions this story could go if and when we learn more about it. I admit to hoping these accusations are groundless, and that the Cos is still the guy I’ve seen, liked and trusted.
But it’s hard for us to maintain that mindset, given the level of allegations and our omnipresent media culture. And even if the story doesn’t go forward—if it remains forever in this realm of muddy unsubstantiality—it can’t help but impact all the many ways that I’ve connected with Cosby in the realm of entertainment.
You see, when Cosby was onstage or on the set of The Cosby Show, you got the sense that he wasn’t just playing a role: He was playing a version of him—exaggerated and aggrandized, of course, but still recognizable. And because his character and public persona were so intertwined and grew so beloved, what he does offscreen can’t help but impact how we see him when he’s on it.
How unfair to Cosby, then, if these accusations are unfounded or trumped up. Our judicial system declares that people are innocent until proven guilty. But in the court of public opinion, that’s not true, nor is it possible. The accusations themselves can’t help but color how we see Cosby and everything he’s touched, from The Cosby Show to his stand-up routines to Jell-O pudding pops.
But if he is guilty …
This has been a hard story for us to talk about around the Plugged In cubicles. I think all of us, in one way or another, have been impacted by Mr. Cosby. And because there’s a lot more narrative to unspool before we get any resolution, it’s hard to know even how we should talk about it—another frustration of the very public, media-driven world we live in. After all, Plugged In is, in its own way, a part of that court of public opinion. What is published here isn’t published in a vacuum: It becomes part of the narrative.
And what you say becomes part of that same narrative. If you offer up your own opinions of the Cosby story—either in the forum below or on Facebook or Twitter or face-to-face with your friends—you are impacting how other people think and feel. Your opinions have power. The social media industry is predicated on that fact: If you “like” a new restaurant in town, Facebook and that restaurant are betting that you might encourage a friend to go there, too. And it’s no less true that what you say regarding Cosby, if anything, will be influential.
So how are we, then, to interact with this monstrous story?
When it comes to Cosby himself, we should strive to be fair. I don’t want the accusations to be true. But my own wants shouldn’t counteract the facts. We should not irrationally defend Cosby. Nor should we rush to judgment. Even as the world piles on, we must resist the urge to join in.
And I think this whole mess should also serve as a reminder to us that, in this knee-jerk world, both actions and accusations matter.
The Bible makes a big deal about both, of course. And regardless of guilt or innocence, the explosion of this story serves as a disturbing reminder that reputations and livelihoods can be damaged irreparably by what we say about others.
People can also be hurt by not coming forward. Your mom was right: Telling the truth is always important—even if it’s a painful truth. If these accusations are true—and their preponderance is certainly pushing lots of folks to read them as such—and Cosby did commit the actions he’s accused of, we need to hold him accountable for that, no matter how significant his social, cultural or financial sway might be.
Finally, I think we must, above all, pray. Pray for the women involved. Pray for Bill. Pray that the truth finally comes out in an incontrovertible way. It’s only when we know the truth that real justice can take place, and real healing and restoration can begin.
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