Once again with feeling society is faced with its myths, perceptions and beliefs shattered. This time there are damningly serious allegations against Bill Cosby, who is to the American value system as Apple Pie and Mother’s Milk are to the nation’s symbols of “goodness”. After a denial lasting decades and an extended period of bargaining, “Just say it isn’t so”, the pervasiveness of the internet and social media forced society to face the unthinkable - that fatherly figure who broke so many cultural barriers, smashed so many racial stereotypes and heralded and pioneered a paradigm of family dynamics, was allegedly, simultaneously wallowing in a life of victimization, sexual assault and abuse of his powerful position. To Jay H. Ell the incredulity of this reality was conveyed to him by the reaction of a twenty - five year old female fellow worker, who could have only seen his reruns, who simply refused to entertain the possibility and exclaimed, “Utter rubbish”.
COSBY AND HIS THEATRIC PERSONA ARE ONE AND THE SAME
This isn’t a question of an actor being separated from a role. Cosby made no bones about his thespian forrays. They were him. From his earliest comedian stand ups where he lampooned his upbringing to his celebrated Cosby Show and thereafter they were modeled on the great man himself. He reeked authenticity. His public persona, his charities, his involvement in his alma mater and unashamed, but often politically incorrect pronouncements, on the behavior of his fellow African Americans all cried out for the label of a wholesome, if not perfect, role model. There was a public hiccough when he refused to pay extortion money to someone who claimed to be a daughter. But he took responsibility for an affair with the daughter’s mother but “on principle” he bucked at paying blackmailers. He went through the publicity of a court case and the young lady was sentenced to a jail term and emerged with his dignity and honor intact.
America mourned when his son Ennis was murdered in California. His drama had played out before them. Ennis’s low school grades and his father’s insistence that he was lazy was in real life and on the sitcom for all to see. Ennis’s subsequent diagnosis of dyslexia and Cosby’s and (Huxtable’s) acknowledgement that he had been wrong in labelling him all became part of every tv room. Ennis became the focus of the Cosby show as he was Cosby’s in real life. Eventually Ennis became highly successful as a teacher even gaining academic honors. When Cosby returned from California following Ennis’s tragic death he confided to the media that, “Ennis was his hero” and the nation’s tears were with him. Cosby and his wife Camille inaugurated a Foundation in his memory, “The hello friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation which would address the needs of children with learning disabilities. “Hello Friend” was Ennis’s salutation. Cosby and his family were the part of the fabric of American folklore. It is thus impossible to separate his private life persona from his theatric persona.
THERE WERE PROBLEMS BUT NO-ONE IMAGINED THIS
Yes there were admitted problems with womanizing but he maintained that he was over them at the age of forty and growing old had helped. But no one was ready for the full blast of this expose. Maybe they should have taken note over the years as the allegations surfaced, amidst denials but everyone else were too in denial. Cosby was king of the tv media not only in America but throughout the world. He was so special so genuine so like how we would all like to be. There are now 26 women that have come forward with detailed accounts of how he drugged them and then raped or sexually abused them. Hour long programs have been devoted to the sordid saga on CNN and other channels with the accusers’ stories.
There is an alleged pattern of behavior which cannot be interpreted as anything else but as serial demeaning, gross, and grievous criminal sexual assaults. These attacks were on victims who were in no position to lay allegations against an idol that that they had worshipped and believed that had their careers at heart. The graphic stories negated the image of the soft cuddly avuncular father figure and turned him into a fowl mouthed, unshaven, leering, smelly monster. One of the most vivid stories was relayed by Janice Dickinson, the famous model, who oozed the anger and pain she experienced so many decades earlier. She recalled the smell of his cigar and his bad breath as he forced himself on her - the vaginal and anal pain. Others spoke of his utter disdain for them after he had “had his way”. In all it adds up to the behavior of remorseless sociopath unrepentant over a life time.
There was an attack on his lawyer, Martin Singer, who the accusers maintained aided and abetted him in his charade. “Not only did they have to live with that humiliation, which had lingered on for decades, they were now being accused of being liars”. Cosby through all of this has remained mum. The official position is that this is all made up. His lawyer’s argument is that it begs credulity that so many women would keep quite for so long. In fact they haven’t. In 2005 a civil case was brought against him by a Temple University administrator. She had thirteen Jane Does lined up to corroborate her story.The Prosecutor in that trial maintains that he did not believe Cosby and wanted to proceed but he never had enough to prove his brief. Another civil case is in the woodwork where he forced a fifteen young girl to perform a lewd sexual act on him but it is highly unlikely that it will see the light of day. Already Singer has discredited her saying that she attempted to distort $250,000 from Cosby and has lied to the court in that she claimed she only was aware of her psychological injury in the last three years when she tried to sell her story to a tabloid 8 years ago. Gloria Aldred, the Women’s Rights Advocate, is handling the latter’s case and she has called on Crosby, “To do the right thing”. Hardly a sign that the tough as nails Aldred fancies her chances.
Another complainant Tamara Green says comments, (calling her a liar), made by Cosby’s representatives to The Washington Post and Newsweek this year “impugned” her reputation and exposed her to “public contempt, ridicule, aversion or disgrace. She has filed the suit to “restore her good name and reputation” her attorney, Joseph Cammarata, told People.
One could go and on but it is merely painful and senseless. Cosby may be able to knock off one or two stories but to go through twenty -six that have the same modus operandi with pill boxes and the like is heavy going. Better to face the issues that this provokes.
MUST COSBY RESPOND?
Cosby’s argument is that he need not give these grotesque allegations the time of day to respond, unless there is a court case and then he comes out firing on six cylinders. However, in Jay H. Ell’s humble opinion he has to. It is indeed true that he has never been charged, never even lost a civil trial but he is a public persona larger than life and he is confronting forty years of allegations. He needs to give a detailed rebuttal and as society is geared, explain why this varied bunch of women would want to lie about such a serious matter. He is not dealing with a court of law he is dealing with the court of public opinion.
Many are hoping that he will fess up so the process of healing can begin. Could they forgive him? These are not allegations of a succession of consensual affairs, inappropriate remarks or bogus reframing of behavior in retrospect, they are independent, non recruited allegations of outrageous criminal behavior. It is hard to imagine that this is just going to go away or how to make it appear like one giant conspiracy.
CAN WE SEPARATE THE ARTIST FROM THE ART PRODUCED
While Jay H. Ell has argued that art per se cannot hide behind the fact that it is art, (Blog: The Death of Klinghoffer - The Opera, An Abomination or Art), no one can argue that what Cosby has performed was anything but as pure as driven snow. He never degenerated to smut, vulgarity or foul language. This was all wholesome family fare at its best, both educational, (he obtained a PH. D. for the educational impact of his children’s shows such as Fat Albert), and transformative. So what he has performed has a validity in its own right.
However, the immediate question is how can we ever look at a rerun of any of his famed sitcoms, his movies, his iconic commercials, his earlier one man stand ups that are timeless in their insights and humor and not conjure up the tarnished Cosby? One has to realize that actors and even composers have long since been separated from their art. The proviso is that the art is pure which Cosby’s is. Besides bad old Wagner there are many that plied their trade on the stage whose persona are known not to match their scripted roles. Peter Sellers one of the greatest comedic actors of the twentieth century was known to be a miserable s.o.b. Billy Crystal famously said, when Sellers suffered a heart attack, that it was not possible, because he hadn’t a heart. The problem with Cosby is that he and his art are inseparable. Their source is Cosby himself and his supposed family life.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
So Cosby owes it to his vast following to explain or come clean. Already Netflix and NBC have spoken and cancelled contracts that would have kept the legend going forever. He cannot hide behind a legal screen in this day and age of public and social media. If his counsel carries on fuming he will alienate his client’s constituency even more. So unless Cosby responds he is a despised nonentity for the foreseeable future.
One outcome that nobody can take away - the impact that his transformative body of work has had on society. He tackled the issue of family dynamics head on and the content was valid for all regardless of race, creed or color. Whether you were rich or poor the same issues of limit setting, priorities and problem solving presented itself in your home and you could identify with the Huxtables. Even if the solutions were glib and parceled up too simplistically, there were solutions. In addition he pioneered the truth that the African American were not some different species. They, in the words of Shakespeare showed - "If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
This will be Cosby’s legacy what ever the outcome of these sordid allegations will be. Who knows one day the reruns may start again and it will be only of historical significance that the self same Cosby was accused of rape and sexual crimes. But as matters stand that is a long way off.
So another sad end to a symbol of wholesomeness. The Bill Cosby who, over a half a century, has earned America’s highest civil award, The Presidential Medal of Freedom, The Kennedy Center Honor, Humanitarian and every conceivable Comedy Award, including the Mark Twain Prize, been named “Man of the Year” by various agencies, the recipient of Emmy’s and Grammy’s, honored by seventeen Colleges with honorary degrees and been listed as one of the most influential and greatest African Americans, has had his legend trashed. It is hard to dodge this reality and it is only fair to the victims that no one attempts to rationalize or ignore the evidence. A full hearing of it all that could conceivably exonerate Cosby but that won’t happen as he won’t let it. So he has to at least take responsibility for the inferences society make. He carries on pitifully in denial and his website has the banner, “Laughter is Universal - Bill Cosby - Far From Finished”.
It is almost trite to ask all to spare a thought for the Cosby family. For the sake of his daughters and his wife Camille, however in this take no prisoners social milieu, it is necessary. It is to say the least inappropriate to take swipes at them, especially Camille, implying enablement and gullibility. This too from so many sources that were given the heads up by complainants, way back, that they chose to ignore because that was the story then. How Camille and the daughters cope with this is their business. They haven’t invited comment by butting in. So leave them alone.
One can at least take some comfort in the fact that Tony Bennett is still standing!
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