two women renew Bill Cosby sexual abuse allegations in Newsweek interviews

An African-American male comedian, not just Colbert or the like putting the pieces together. xpost

i wasnt trying to imply "showbiz jerk" rep correlated with sexual predator, but you probably knew that.

what's strange for ppl of my age btw is that BC was famous for 20 years before The Cosby Show, and circa 1969-73 he almost had more of a niche as a kids' entertainer, what with the presence of Fat Albert on Saturday morning and his endless endorsements of crappy sugar products.

was "I Spy" any good? I've never seen a single episode.

my intro to Cosby was Fat Albert and the Picture Pages segment.

Yeah idk if burress' maleness (or blackness) figures into this blowing up as much as the platform itself. I'm inclined to think that if sarah silverman dropped that in a set it also would've raised alarms.

My intro to cos was fat albert and his comedy records

probably haven't seen I Spy since i was about nine, so i don't know

Burress is not remotely Cosby-level famous or anything but he almost occupies a similar space of being a black comic with an exceptionally warm, ingratiating presence so i think there's something that might've struck a nerve about hearing someone charming and funny say "who cares if he's charming and funny, he's a rapist"

Gawker did run this in Feb when the Woody Allen controversy was at high tide, and something about Burress's wording makes me think he probably started talking about Cosby onstage after reading that particular post, so uh good on Gawker i guess:
http://gawker.com/who-wants-to-remember-bill-cosbys-multiple-sex-assaul-1515923178

Cosby's had the most varied career! I always wanted to see the movies he did with Sidney Poitier.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l74f0RspBjw/TzcJ0yF7hcI/AAAAAAAACfY/7RACugDLTic/s1600/zuptown+saturday+night_poster.jpg

It's sentimental, but I have some book in my classroom about people who persevered. Cosby's one of them, and he said (paraphrase) he tried to make his comedy about universal themes because he hoped it would help people see the commonality between different races. I think he has tried to do some real genuine good with his career. Also I have been in on so many (well, two) stupid fucking college discussions with all white people talking about if Bill Cosby is an "uncle Tom" or not, which was just so grody.

Actually, this is even worse! The first time I saw a black family in my population 408 rural Idaho town I guess I said, "Look, it's the Cosbys!" I don't even remember this story; my family just likes telling it. I guess the summary here is I grew up in a fucked up place and his show + Family Matters were the only representations of black people I got. So I think he achieved his goal with comedy!

So OTOH back to Buress's bit, if I felt like he were my bossy granddad in the poundcake speech era, well. I would have a different view.

ps. That washington post editorial is #2 google hit for Bill Cosby right now.

Mother, Juggs & Speed was a weird one. It started out a comedy and then got real dark about half way through.

you know, once he got into the late '70s and '80s, his standup got a little less "warm and ingratiating." e.g. "all children have brain damage."

Another account of two assaults, dating back to 1969, by the writer Joan Tarshis:

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2014/11/another-cosby-victim-comes/

"The United States of America is a wonderful country but they still haven't built a place where you can get rid of your children."

I feel the one weird happy upside of this, besides exposing monstrous behavior, is getting more attention for Hannibal Buress, who I think is a v funny dude. (Recanted if it turns out in 45 years he is a sex abuser.)

― never say goodbye before leaving chat room (Crabbits), Sunday, November 16, 2014 6:20 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my first reaction would be Hannibal! nooooooo.. if he was found to be in the wrong on something

but really, he's funny and also is on Broad City which you should all watch if you don't

I think the thing I get from the idea that Cosby is a really controlling woman-raping entity is that people aren't just capable of great things or horrible things, they are capable of both, even down to the person. And the apparent good that Bill Cosby was doing, it was such that he could get away with evils that the common person couldn't -- well, not at the level he probably did. Our myth of an egalitarian society (hah, as if we have one) is just that.

Our myth of an egalitarian society (hah, as if we have one) is just that.

I think very few Americans really understand what an egalitarian society would be. Most of us probably equate it with everybody having at least theoretical chance of becoming rich. The idea that all people should be treated the same regardless of worldly success has precedents here but it's really out of fashion now, what with Randian notions about "innovators" and such.

for sure, I would like to be able to go out and talk to a random person at the bar at a fancy hotel or just some total dive and relate to a fellow human being regardless of station in life, but when I'm at the poor bar, Bill Cosby would keep hassling me for my bootstraps story

people aren't just capable of great things or horrible things, they are capable of both

this is one of the things that ta-nehisi coates has really stressed about racism, which seems obvious but isn't quite sometimes. ppl are complex and inconsistent, and it's worth recognizing that an otherwise saintly person can have terrible traits and v-v

that is the thing, if you do good things people are willing to overlook small ills, and if you do things perceived to be great there's institutional pressure to not speak up when you do bad shit

which is part of why broke people get arrested for spitting on the sidewalk and the rich can practically murder someone before anyone cares. wealth and social success are seen as moral successes, or at least moral karma

http://i.imgur.com/tNa0xfl.gif

Yeah idk if burress' maleness (or blackness) figures into this blowing up as much as the platform itself. I'm inclined to think that if sarah silverman dropped that in a set it also would've raised alarms.

Burress was "dropping it" in "sets" for months without raising any alarms.

yes.. so, other than improving on the narrative, what was it? the YouTube clip being linked by a couple of the right sources?

I mean, scare quotes aside, what does that add to the narrative other than implying there's another factor?

Yeah, I think this took off because someone caught it on video in Philadelphia.

The Trocadero is a lonely place

my uncle (well, the guy who was married to my wife) used to hang with Cosby in the 70's and early 80's because he was a musician in Vegas and Reno and knew him from that circuit. He (uncle) was a massive coke head and louse. he's now dead so I can't ask him about any of this but this relationship always made me think there was probably something else up with the Cos. I still like his best of album though. too bad.

guy who was married to my aunt. my aunt. not my wife.

lol

and it's worth recognizing that an otherwise saintly person can have terrible traits and v-v

― mookieproof, Monday, November 17, 2014 2:27 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

which is part of why broke people get arrested for spitting on the sidewalk and the rich can practically murder someone before anyone cares. wealth and social success are seen as moral successes, or at least moral karma

― jenny holzer, ilxor (mh), Monday, November 17, 2014 2:32 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

these are so otm and i feel like a key reason it feels like an uphill struggle in specific cases like this, or even in a wider "take sexual assault victims seriously when the perpetrator had more power and higher status than them", is because of how deeply entrenched these huge myths are

While we've obviously entered a whole different realm, it's been quite a while since Cosby's public persona was "saintly," I think? Eddie Murphy was telling him to STFU in the mid '80s and as in that Philly mag article above, Michael Eric Dyson and many others grew sick of his self-appointed moral arbiter status.

ime liberal whites eat the moral arbiter stuff up.

liberal whites are the ones pointing and screaming "it's the culture"?

well no obviously it's conservatives' entire thing. i meant that in addition to those guys i've talked to some people who'd steer clear of, say, charles murray, but will say that cosby is tough-loving.

Cosby, Belafonte -- hard to knock those guys for speaking as leaders. I mean, easy to knock Cosby now for it, but still.

POTUS has made similar arguments

welp
http://www.mediaite.com/online/listen-to-bill-cosbys-1969-stand-up-bit-about-drugging-womens-drinks/

I totally remember that bit, because it was the first time I heard about spanish fly and as an elementary school kid I was like wtf

...yeah, it did cross my mind that, despite the 'kid-friendly' side of his career in his 30s, he was also did Playboy After Dark etc.

The anecdotes told in the routine are likely not fully based on reality and instead used to serve the comedic scenario, but in light of the fact that drugs are believed to have been used in the alleged assaults, the bit takes on disturbing meaning all these years later.

Publishing "Isn't it weird/funny that this sounds like rape" is pretty much just telling a rape joke via hypertext

no it isn't.

"pretty much"

"disturbing" != "weird/funny"

Yes, da croupier, this Death + Taxes post really does have the somber tone of a writer who was disturbed to his very marrow and post this heartbreaking comedy routine with nothing but sincerest empathy for women

Props to self-proclaimed “crap archivist” Alan Scherstuhl for digging this one up:

On the album, forebodingly titled “It’s True! It’s True!,”

Listen to the clip and tell me if you think the Cos is regretting this one about now

sorry i thought you were responding to the link you quoted

Well the link i quoted has this

The anecdotes told in the routine are likely not fully based on reality and instead used to serve the comedic scenario, but in light of the fact that drugs are believed to have been used in the alleged assaults, the bit takes on disturbing meaning all these years later.

which is basically "We admit this comedy bit is probably fictional and not actually about raping women, but bear with us while we make you think it is"

i merely noted that "disturbing" != "weird/funny",

calm down

^ two most inflammatory words in english language

thank you, NBC Nightly News, for interviewing for your two-minute segment a "viral media" expert younger than my neighbor's teen and letting him say that this story will probably die soon because that's how we roll in 2014.

wtffffff

guessing there's wasn't any full disclosure there

Soda otm!