Bill Cosby, now a free man, wants to do a standup act again in U.S., Canada

Humans are vulnerable to missteps and misjudgement, and it's unfortunate that it's the direction he chose to take. And the thing is, Comedians owe a lot to their personality, so I doubt he'll be able to bounce back from this much, if at all.

 

No matter what happens, he'll remain a very wealthy man, so he'll survive, even if he's reduced to perform for his family and friends (wealthy people always have tons of friends whether they are likable or not.)

 

Nor should he. I agree that he should stay out of sight from now on.

True enough. And I genuinely believe that he accomplished much good in the process of garnering that wealth: by showing everyone that black families share the same values and feelings as white ones, he hurt racism in America in a way that marches and protests (vital and necessary as they were) didn't. It doesn't absolve him of his crimes, but his crimes don't change what he accomplished.

 

The Cosby Show’s affect on racism has always been greatly exaggerated. I suppose there were white people who watched the show and had some great epiphany about racism, but this was an upper class family fronted by a lawyer and a MD. They were wholesome as hell, more than just about any real life family. I doubt that overall, the racism needle was moved in any significantly positive way.

For white people if a show like this was needed just get you to see Black people as “normal,” it’s likely that person was pretty extreme. Lots of even racist white people would have been happy to have the Cosby’s move into their neighborhood, but but the problem is, 99% of Black people aren’t the Cosbys.

i can’t even say that I believe the Cosby Show didn’t actually do more harm than good overall. At the least the show gave cover to racists who could point to their love of the show as “proof” they weren’t racist, while at the same time, doing and saying the things racists say and do.

 

Racism often comes from ignorance. Any show that has multiracial actors does something against racism by simple habituation. It's a lot easier to be racist against people you never see or hear from except when they do bad things than if you see them in everyday situations.

 

People would go see Bill Cosby do comedy simple out of morbid curiosity. Let it never be said people don't enjoy a good train wreck. Also people would also show up just to heckle him. I guarantee if their was a 5 minute clip of him doing this on YouTube right now the thing would instantly start to trend. Kind of like Kevin Spaceys creepy Christmas videos every year. Hell now people even kind of want to see them For basically the same reasons.

 

Interesting perspective.

 

For me as a black person, I thought that it was okay, but I didn't (and still don't) like how Cliff Huxtable treated his son Theo on the show (and I don't like how Cosby [apparently] treated Ennis Cosby in real life [he was said to have beaten him when Ennis made a joke about how badly he was doing in school-due to his learning disability-when Cosby asked him about it.])

This blacklist isn't going to last, Jayson, like it or not (and judging by what was mentioned about people wanting to see him in the article, he may get a sizable number of people to see him as well if he accomplishes this goal of performing again.) If people aren't going to boycott Amber Heard for how she treated Johnny Depp, then they probably won't boycott Cosby too much (although I still stand by what I said.)

 

If this idiocy somehow pans out, I doubt Cosby would get much of an audience.

If for no other reason than most people would not want to be seen in that audience.

 

I doubt he would even attempt this if it was completely hopeless, he's not the only one involved, far from it. They must think they'll get some money out of it or they wouldn't even propose it.

 

I know Cancel Culture can be bad and overly invasive but they could probably just refuse to let people bring in cameras to the place. It would take lots of work shifting through the faces in the audience and seeing who is who.

 

It seems unlikely that most venues would want to be tarred with the Cosby brush, even if there was money to be made.

Ughhh. Ain't that the truth. And it doesn't create anything, only destroys.

 

People can always film with their phones. It would be hard to prevent that.

 

I know Dave Chappelle makes people give up their phones before doing his act. I think other comedians are also starting to do it because they don't want their stuff to end up on YouTube. Of course it's possible for a really sneaky person to find away around that but maybe not always.

 

Yeah.

And I don't care how funny somebody might still think Cosby is, you'd be taking a HUGE risk, showing up in the audience at one of his shows. People might start asking questions. Pics will get leaked over the net. You get caught in that crowd, who knows, you may not have a job the next day....

 

Which I find eminently unacceptable, and downright dangerous. It shows shades of the Mccarthyism of the middle of last century, destroying people's lives because they were supposedly communist sympathizers. Only now, it's hatemongers. The moment we allow legal or institutional penalties for supposed beliefs, as opposed to actual wrongful actions... "with the first link, the chain is forged".

 

Which is a scary thought that this kind of mentality has become common in America. The idea people are out their trying to ruin lives just to feel good about themselves is a scary notion.

 

Cancel culture and Internet outrage are, unfortunately, very real. There's few things in this world more seductive and more ego-driven than righteous anger.

That being said, no, of course this is in no way intended to diminish the seriousness of Cosby's crimes. He's a sick man, and did some horrible things. But does that mean that all of his old albums are now unplayable? We can't still laugh at Cos' routines from decades ago? Of course not. Hell, even though Garrison Keillor treated people like shit (though not anywhere near as bad as Cosby, AFAIK), I still love those old bits from A Prairie Home Companion. And Kevin Spacey is a major league asswipe, but one can still enjoy his film and TV work if one so chooses.

 

Well, it’s a fun thought at least, isn’t it? That white people seeing Black people being “normal” impacts racism in any significant way is quaint. Guess that’s one reason we’ll likely continue to see movies like The Blind Side, Drivin Miss Daisy, The Greenbook etc.

No man, this is a fantasy, an ikkusion. With all of the TV shows, movies, and even some real life experiences, we seem to be headed back to the Jim Crow era. They can keep making these movies and shows, as long as diversity is employed, and I hope people enjoy them, but thinking they are striking blows against racism is just plain naive.

 

I fail to understand... so, featuring black people in pop culture is racist. And yet, whitewashing is also racist. So... what do we do?