We Need to Talk About Cosby - W. Kamau Bell - 2022

Cosby is a sick man. A rapist first. Entertainer second. Used his power and influence to sexually assault women for half a century. 

I first heard about all this like 20 years ago. It was bad enough at the time that I was completely done with him. But he kept on doing his thing, his persona getting more irritating and sanctimonious as the years went by. The call-out stuff was especially bullshit and sickening. 

I also vividly remember him hanging out with a dude with the last name Cosby who was a late pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. That kid's vibe was basically “what the fuck is happening here?” I talked with an African American lawyer friend of mine about Cosby at this time. He made me see the whole thing in a somewhat different light. He is a man of the law and public opinion is not a good barometer of guilt, he explained. Media tends to use these facts in a way that supports a narrative. These facts can be good or bad. The bad are misleading and don't stand up in court. An example of a bad fact would be if say a teacher was accused of being a pedophile and the fact that the teacher is seen with children is held against that person. Only if he goes to court and has evidence presented against him would he change his opinion of Cosby. “Always presume innocence,” he said. When Cosby eventually did stand trial, my friend completely changed his tune. “Fuck that guy,” he said. 

So I felt pretty comfortable about hating Cosby before watching the doc. He had his day in court and was convicted, but got off on a technicality. After watching the doc, the way he fooled everyone and made it seem impossible that he was capable of something like that was what really disturbed me.

What is nuts is that he is talking about going on tour. I am sure there are a lot of people that will still pay to see him. I assume he is pretty close to broke, which is some consolation.

Anyway, the documentary series definitely wasn’t easy to watch. It took me a month to regroup after each episode. Every one got worse, too. This documentary series is damning and made me sick to my stomach.