Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Bill Cosby 1976 Ford ad
Bill Cosby in a 1976 Ford ad
A few years ago, as regular contributor to Television Quarterly on on W. 57th St. in Manhattan, I wrote a scathing piece taking to task “The Cosby Show.” In it, I criticized what I considered its pandering to whites for a peaches-and-cream depiction of Black life in America.
This was prior to Bill Cosby—who I’d always admired – publicly outed as a decades-long sexual predator. Ironically, it also followed one of my positive New York Daily News columns about him. But I’ve always called ‘em like I see ‘em.
Predictably, my TVQ piece didn’t go down well with readers; the squeaky-clean “Cosby Show” had endeared him to millions as “America’s Dad.” Several protested in nasty letters to the magazine which it dutifully printed.
I later was somewhat vindicated when Cosby’s sick perversions—drugging mostly white females for sex—came to light. Indeed, “America’s Dad” had crashed and burned.
Several women were represented by high-profile, media-savvy attorney, Gloria Allred. In 2015, some 60 of his accusers over the years were pictured on the front pages of New York Magazine, New York Daily News and the Washington Post. Headlines screamed “America’s Rapist,” “Cosby is a Rapist” and “He said, she said, she said…” and on and on and on.
Indecent Assault
In their wake, Cosby was convicted of aggravated indecent assault of one accuser and served nearly three years in prison. He was released June 30, 2021.
And now, yet another woman has accused the 86-year-old Cosby. The latest, in November, is Joan Tarshis, who filed a lawsuit against Cosby under New York’s Adult Survivor’s Act. The filing claims Cosby sexually assaulted and raped her in 1969, when she was a young writer who sought to contribute a comedy skit to the show.
Sad, indeed, for those recalling his “Cosby Show” days after co-starring with Robert Culp on TV’s “I Spy.” Even more entertaining for me was his pairing with Sidney Poitier in hilarious movies such as Uptown Saturday Night (1972), Let’s Do it Again (1973); Piece of the Action (1977), and with Richard Pryor in California Suite (1978).
But thinking back, I also remember another ill-advised Cosby encounter – this one involving famed big-time sports handicapper Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. In 1988, Cosby put his foot in his mouth asking forgiveness for Snyder (70), who was fired by CBS from its “NFL Today” pre-game show for racist comments about Black athletes.
In a TV interview, Snyder said Blacks had big thighs, were bred from the time of slavery to be superior athletes, and the only place for whites was as coaches.
“On the eve of celebrating Martin Luther King Day, we should be more forgiving,“ Cosby noted at the time. He said he “didn’t want people to hang the man.”
“Not only was Jimmy “The Greek” rightly hung by CBS -- summarily fired – the man never should have been hired 12 years earlier. He knew as much about pro football as a French poodle.
Maudlin Remark
Predictably, Cosby’s maudlin statement was played-up by the media for white folks, who felt he could do no wrong. But not all Black people were crazy about him or “The Cosby Show,” despite its ratings reign as numero-uno. Of the many I asked about it for the Daily News on the street in Harlem, and elsewhere, each felt it sugar-coated Black life in America. For example:
“Bill Cosby is God’s gift to the white man in these troubled times,” said Latoya Yarborough, 31, as we walked slowly along W. 135th St. “Whites know if they watch his program, ain’t nobody gonna’ demand nothing from them.
“But you can’t blame Bill for giving them what they want. They ain’t about to look at no militant Blacks on TV talkin’ about their troubles. And big advertisers don’t want to hear about that stuff either. Tellin’ CBS not to fire that white man was all Cosby,” she said.
“The Cos goofed,” said Henry Smith, 28, waiting for a train to White Plains at the gate to track 29 in Grand Central Terminal. “I can’t stand escapist TV like that lightweight show of his. But forgive The Greek? No way. That clown got what he deserved. Cosby is all-wet.”
“Look, why kid ourselves, 37-year-old Sadie Mae Dandridge told me, on the sidewalk under the marquee of the Apollo Theater “Cosby’s TV thing has always been out of touch with the real Black experience. I don’t live like that.
“Nobody I know lives like that—except for a couple of my white friends. I mean, they never talk about Black problems on ‘The Cosby Show.’ What about housing, unemployment, drugs and racism?”
Should Have Been Offensive
I got similar thoughts from 11 people all told. And to me, it was clear Cosby’s comments about Snyder’s “big thighs” racial diatribe on national television should have been offensive to everyone—Black or white. But especially Black.
Thus, Bill Cosby—once beloved as the so-called “America’s Dad”—again is dogged by continuing allegations of his sexual perversions at the pinnacle of his fame.
As a lifelong cineaste, Cosby’s sad situation reminds me of a recurring theme in Orson Welles’classic The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). In it, Welles, the narrator said the spoiled son (played by Tim Holt) “… finally got his come-uppance.”
And Bill Cosby, who, in May 2004, positively and emotionally commented on the importance of Black family values at the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board is Education, once more getting his well-deserved come-uppance for his disgusting, decades-long sexual perversions. Unhappily for Cosby—and for us—“America’s Dad” is no more.
