Bill Cosby’s legacy, recast.

[Prunepicker]

From the New York Post...
The accusations, some of which Cosby has denied and others he has declined to
discuss, span the arc of the comedy legend’s career, from his pioneering years
as the first black star of a network television drama in 1965 to the mid-2000s, when
Cosby was firmly entrenched as an elder statesman of the entertainment industry,
a scolding public conscience of the African American community and a philanthropist.
They also span a monumental generational shift in perceptions — from the sexually
unrestrained ’60s to an era when the idea of date rape is well understood.

The saga of the abuse allegations is set in locales that speak to Cosby’s wealth and
fame: a Hollywood-studio bungalow, a chauffeured limousine, luxury hotels, a New
York City brownstone. But it also stretches into unexpected places, such as an
obscure Denver talent agency that referred two of Cosby’s future accusers to the
star for mentoring.

The allegations are strung together by perceptible patterns that appear and
reappear with remarkable consistency: mostly young, white women without family
nearby; drugs offered as palliatives; resistance and pursuit; accusers worrying that
no one would believe them; lifelong trauma. There is also a pattern of intense
response by Cosby’s team of attorneys and publicists, who have used the media
and the courts to attack the credibility of his accusers.

[Jim Kyle]

Strikes me, though, as typical tabloid journalism. Almost looks like an organized attack on the man. The accusers may or may not be telling the truth, but I question why they waited so very many years to bring the subject out into the open. They could have done him much more damage when he was still on top of the heap!

[ljbab728]

It doesn't surprise me that much that it would happen that way. It's sort of like the accusations against one of our local policeman. After one or two came out with the accusations, others felt more comfortable coming forward. Some of these women probably just felt it was too long ago to even bring up until they saw others doing the same and felt like it might relieve a burden they had been holding in. I'm not sure they are coming forward to "cause him damage".

[hoya]

Let's just cut to the chase. There is no way to know if these accusations are true. The women could be legitimate victims, and could have had perfectly valid reasons for not coming forward when something happened. Or they could be complete liars, attacking the man for no other reason than to get their 15 minutes of fame, or are hoping to get some type of monetary settlement to go away.

Then there's the possibility that a famous rich man regularly invites attractive women back to his hotel room with the intention of having sex with them. And that a small number of women are ignorant of his reasons for doing so. And the rich man believes that his intentions are perfectly clear. And then the rich man moves forward in a sexually aggressive manner, and the (perhaps willfully) naive woman is shocked and offended. This is known as the "Kobe Bryant" scenario.

[Prunepicker]

Strikes me, though, as typical tabloid journalism. Almost looks like an organized
attack on the man.

Do you mean like the organized attack on W? You might have something.

[ljbab728]

Let's just cut to the chase. There is no way to know if these accusations are true. The women could be legitimate victims, and could have had perfectly valid reasons for not coming forward when something happened. Or they could be complete liars, attacking the man for no other reason than to get their 15 minutes of fame, or are hoping to get some type of monetary settlement to go away.

Then there's the possibility that a famous rich man regularly invites attractive women back to his hotel room with the intention of having sex with them. And that a small number of women are ignorant of his reasons for doing so. And the rich man believes that his intentions are perfectly clear. And then the rich man moves forward in a sexually aggressive manner, and the (perhaps willfully) naive woman is shocked and offended. This is known as the "Kobe Bryant" scenario.

From what has been said, there has previously been some type of prior monetary settlements. But, as you said, after so many years it would be difficult to show if any of this is true and any potential criminal charges are almost impossible. I'm not surprised that he is taking the tactic of just not commenting at all.

[BBatesokc]

What may have been a sad and often overlooked footnote in an otherwise tremendous career seems to have manifested itself into Cosby's prologue.

True, we can never know fact from fiction in these women's allegations. We may never even know their motivations and we will certainly never know Cosby's.

Its easy to dismiss the assertions because they happened so long ago. But I've worked with an around enough sexual assault victims to realize a long silence followed by the confidence to come forward is extremely common. Probably just as common as individuals or a collective fabricating a story for whatever reasons.

[PennyQuilts]

About all I can figure, for sure, is that Mr. Cosby, a married man with a nice wife and kids, engaged in a lot of trashy behavior and likely the women he was running with were just as trashy. Sorry, but there it is.

Whether he actually engaged in rape or whether it was just a lot of women getting around to reconsidering how things went, dunno. I haven't followed this all that much but at least a few are saying they, "didn't know it was rape, at the time" and others made voluntary repeat performances. This rather sounds like a bunch of people running in a fast crowd who have moved on to other stages of their lives and now seeing things with different eyes.

I don't know if Cosby is guilty of rape/doping women or whatever but it sort of makes me sick to see the pile on with no better evidence than a bunch of accusations by women. He may be guilty as sin, they may be groupies, they may have used drugs to enhance the liaisons, they may have gone along hoping it would lead to something else, he may be a crappy lover who treated women as objects but other than the number of women coming forward - decades later in some instances and some who are darn sketchy - we just don't know.

I would not want to be male, these days. As the trend has shifted to placing the burden on men to protect the virtue of women and relieving women of the burden if they place themselves in scary situations or get so intoxicated they can't function, we are starting to look a lot more like countries where it is institutional to consider that women need male protection. I taught my boy to respect women but at the risk of "slut shaming," my girls can darn well learn to protect themselves and not voluntarily place themselves in situations where they can be taken advantage of. That's female empowerment. A date rape pill is easy to administer, granted, but it doesn't sound like these women actually had much of a relationship with Cosby before finding themselves alone with him someplace where stuff could happen. It is easy to claim - now - that they were drugged but getting alone with the guy in the first place begs the question as to what anyone's intentions were.

[Achilleslastand]

https://tv.yahoo.com/news/ex-nbc-fix...170758669.html

Ex-NBC ‘Fixer’ Says He Funneled Money, More To Cosby Women: Report

A 90-year-old former NBC employee, Frank Scotti, says he arranged meetings, cash payments, apartments and more with a string of models and other women on behalf of Bill Cosby during The Cosby Show run on the network between 1984 to 1992.

Scotti, now retired and living in New Jersey, had been a facilities manager for the NBC studio in Brooklyn where The Cosby Show was filmed. He spoke with the New York Daily News, and provided copies of money orders totaling thousands of dollars to at least eight women during 1989 and 1990.

Scotti said he came forward now because he “felt sorry for the women.” At least 15 women have now alleged that Cosby drugged and raped them years ago. As the controversy has worsened, both NBC and Netflix have pulled new projects with Cosby, and TV Land has stopped running episodes of The Cosby Show.

Scotti said he eventually stopped because he felt uncomfortable with what he called the coverup of Cosby’s assignations with many women. Cosby attorney Martin Singer is quoted denying the allegations:

“What evidence does he have of Mr. Cosby’s involvement?” Singer said. “How would Scotti know if a woman was a model or a secretary? It appears that his story is pure speculation so that he can get his 15 minutes of fame.”

[bradh]

Woody Allen had simar transgressions no? Still got a glowing tribute post incident on the Oscars...

[Jim Kyle]

Woody Allen had simar transgressions no? Still got a glowing tribute post incident on the Oscars...

As have Charlie Chaplin and Errol Flynn in years past. On the other hand, Fatty Arbuckle's career ended almost instantly after only one accusation...

[Bullbear]

What I find interesting as well as beyond the Rape allegations is the number of people who have come forward with other stories of Cosby. they tell a tale of their interactions with him that make the allegations seem a bit more possible. How he would bully reporters and others into not reporting parts of interviews and interactions and just making people very uncomfortable around him. Regardless he sounds like a creep and not a very good person. I feel for his wife staying with such a monster for so many years and putting up with his BS.

[hoya]

I haven't followed this story too closely, but after such a long career, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find Cosby had alienated quite a large number of people. After like 50 years of interviews, I'm sure some of them didn't turn out well. I'm sure there were times when he was in a bad mood, or was a jerk, or pissed people off. Doesn't mean he's a monster. Some of those people may have an axe to grind, and they see the opportunity now.

Cosby has had a very positive image for a long long time. That's why these accusations are getting a lot of attention. Nobody would be surprised in the slightest if some woman came forward and said that Charlie Sheen gave her drugs to get into her pants. Well, we might be surprised because Charlie's drugs are for Charlie. But it's the idea that Bill Cosby might not have actually been sainted Cliff Huxtable that has people upset. Sounds like he was kind of a party guy and liked to cheat on his wife. Not that different than the accusations that came out against Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Jersey Boss]

Ol' Bill shoulda followed the advice he was giving the youngsters and "keep your pants up!"

[Midtowner]

There isn't much that is certain here, but what is certain is that Gloria Allred is going to figure out a way to insert herself into this situation somehow.

I said that and then Googled it and apparently she was contacted, but declined to accept the case.

Interesting...

[Throckmorton]

This whole situation with The Coz is nothin' but a bunch of filth flarn filth flarn filth!

[Jersey Boss]

What may have been a sad and often overlooked footnote in an otherwise tremendous career seems to have manifested itself into Cosby's prologue.

True, we can never know fact from fiction in these women's allegations. We may never even know their motivations and we will certainly never know Cosby's.

Its easy to dismiss the assertions because they happened so long ago. But I've worked with an around enough sexual assault victims to realize a long silence followed by the confidence to come forward is extremely common. Probably just as common as individuals or a collective fabricating a story for whatever reasons.

Here is an article showing a timeline of Bill Cosby and unwanted sexual overtones he made over the years.
A Timeline Of How Women's Allegations Against Bill Cosby Have Unfolded

[BBatesokc]

Washington post has a pretty detailed article..... Bill Cosby?s legacy, recast: Accusers speak in detail about sexual-assault allegations - The Washington Post