Here’s an interesting fact about The Cosby Show that not too many people are aware of.
When Bill Cosby, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner first pitched the show idea to NBC, it had Bill playing a limo driver raising his kids with his housewife. After the show was greenlit for six episodes, Cosby went back to NBC and pitched a change to the show that would have them being an upper-class family instead of a blue collar one, which was a decision that had huge ramifications on Black culture and society as a whole.
If you are too young to have ever been able to watch the Cosby Show on TV, there’s a very high chance that its social and racial significance may be lost on you. Before that program aired, Blacks existed on TV in a very restrictive and one-dimensional box, so showing Black professionals excelling at parenting, maintaining a great marriage and balancing high profile careers was not only fascinating – it was empowering and inspirational. That is why the Cosby Show is STILL so highly revered all these years later. Whenever we see any of the Cosby kids, it makes us nostalgic AND proud, almost as if they are OUR friends and family, because so many of us grew up with them. When we see Phylicia Rashad, she’s STILL Claire Huxtable – OUR other-mom. And when we see Bill, he still embodies the father-figure that some of us never had. The truth is, that show became more than just a sitcom – it was a tribute to Black excellence and a shining example of our own personal/professional goals.
So last night when I saw Bill Cosby carrying Jimmy Fallon across a tight rope on the Tonight Show stage, all of those emotions rushed back and I found myself laughing my ass off like most people who watched it.
After showing my boy the hilarious clip he said, “he keeps that shit up, and soon people will forget he raped a gang of women.” When he said that, it hit me like a ton of bricks, mainly because I sometimes forget that those allegations actually exist, which is pathetic because I write for a magazine and it’s actually my job to stay informed on what is happening in my community.
As much as I, and many other people, know that he’s an accused serial-rapist, he is FAR from being crushed under the weight of public scrutiny where many others are, and where someone of his stature probably SHOULD be.
So the question is why? Why do Black people have such convenient amnesia regarding Bill Cosby’s serial rape allegations?
Well, the truth is that Cosby is not just a NAME – it is a glowing and revolutionary emotion, like Oprah or Obama. And we aren’t ready or willing to jeopardize what all of that means, because we can’t separate what the Cosby show meant (and still means to us today), from the man who created it, even if it means ignoring the fact that this man has allegedly drugged and raped 14 different women (and those are just the ones who came forward).
Many are not ready to accept that the man who championed the raising of our perceptions of self-worth, might have finished taping an episode just to hit up a bar and prey on an unsuspecting woman. We aren’t even close to able to comprehend the violation of an unconscious woman who wakes up naked, alone and violently vomiting all over herself due to the pills she was given by Cosby. This is NOT simply a case of us believing that he should be “innocent until proven guilty” – this is a case of us NOT wanting to know, what could be, a horrific truth.
Some of the claims against Cosby go as far back as the 70′s, which means he was allegedly serial raping BEFORE he ever dreamed of The Cosby Show. All of the stories share very similar themes, which is either signs of collusion amongst these women to entrap Cosby for his wealth, or a pattern that is indicative of a man with a sick mind. One of the women stated that Cosby offered her three pills of what he claimed was “herbal medication” intended to “help her relax”, which resulted in the following scenario:
When Plaintiff advised Defendant she did not feel well, Defendant led Plaintiff to a sofa, because she could not walk on her own, where he laid her down, under the guise of “helping” her.
Subsequently, Defendant positioned himself behind Plaintiff on the sofa, touched her breasts and vaginal area, rubbed his penis against her hand, and digitally penetrated her.
Plaintiff remained in a semi-conscious state throughout the time of this ordeal.
At no time was Plaintiff capable of consent after the pills affected her, and at no time did she consent to Defendant’s acts.
And the other claims against Cosby are similar in nature. But, unfortunately, it really doesn’t matter what these women say about Cosby, because the burden of proof is not overcoming the evidence, it’s about destroying and rebuilding our conceptualization of a man we consider a living Black legend. We DON’T want to hear about Cosby being a serial rapist, the same way we DON’T want to hear that Oprah funds Joseph Kony and his child-armies. The reality of the situation is that too many of us are simply NOT mentally, emotionally or spiritually prepared to believe that Bill Cosby is capable of mass rapes. But one day we may have to face the sad fact that our selfish preservation of this emotion, is actually causing a lot of innocent women a lot of serious pain – and preventing a deranged man from getting the punishment and help he so desperately needs.
LAB
Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.