Friday, November 21, 2014

Bill Cosby: finding his inner Cliff Huxtable


Cliff vs Bill
Comedian Hannibal Buress ripped legendary Bill Cosby new one and the fall-out continues...


Hannibal Buress:




“It’s even worse because Bill Cosby has the fuckin’ smuggest old black man persona that I hate,” Buress said. “He gets on TV, ‘Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the 80s! I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom!’ Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches.”  source





And now, three more woman claim, Bill Cosby drug and raped me them.




Another fallen icon?




Serial rapist?





Not the Bill I was reared on.


Affectionately known as Coz, Dr. Cosby -- a one man renaissance institution -- has been a groundbreaking comedian, actor, author, educator, historian, avid art collector philanthropist, and commercial pitchman.
 




Cosby's illustrious career has spanned several decades.



Who can forget?




  • Crossover comedy superstar
  • 60's I-Spy co-star: first African-American Emmy award winner
  • Fat Albert creator, writer and producer.
  • 70's movies: Uptown Saturday Night, Let's Do It Again, Piece Of the Action -- and many more.
  • 80's to 90's Stereotype breaking and arguably one of the best family sitcom of all-times, The Cosby Show.
In North Philadelphia born and raised (thank you Fresh Prince)





As a Philly native of Richard Allen Projects (now called Richard Allen Homes) -- notorious for being one of Philly's roughest and most dangerous neighborhoods -- Cosby was not born with a silver spoon. However, not to be defined by humble beginnings, Cosby embodied the Norman Rockwell American dream of upward mobility.





Mr. Cliff Huxtable: TV's most lovable dad.




Mr. Cosby eschewed playing roles typically assigned to black actors: pimps, uneducated thugs, drug dealers, gangbangers, buffoons etc. By way of his well crafted creations -- Dr. Cliff Huxtable, numerous comedy albums and concerts, he successfully depicted the universality of the African-American experience.





Bill Cosby successfully navigated being socially accepted by mainstream audiences (white people) and not being perceived as sell-out by African-Americans.



Bill Cosby: The judgmental curmudgeon.





In the autumn of his life, Mr. Cosby has appeared to have morphed into the ever surly Mr. Wilson (Think Dennis the menace) -- angry old man ranting: "Get off my yard you young whippersnapper."


He has repeatedly and publicly lambasted poor blacks, still languishing in the inequality of poverty, to get their act together and start striving to be a credit to their race.



From the sterling peak of Mount Cosby he issued edicts to pheasant blacks on behavior and morality.




"Let me tell you something," Cosby, one of America's most admired men, told the group. "Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other [the N-word] as they're walking up and down the street. They think they're hip. They can't read. They can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."


No argument. But context and tone matter.



By contrast, when Malcolm X lectured about self-determination and personal responsibility he seemed to be talking us up to our potential.



The Cosby approach seemed rooted in contempt and classism.

Malcolm was motivation, Cosby was condemnation


Anyhow, at the end of the day, the moral of the story is:



If you are a man with numerous rape allegations and out-of-court settlements, the soapbox should not be your altar.

2 comments:

  1. Hannibal is hilarious. I'm not sure why he hasn't broken into the sitcom or movie world. Though I did see him in one of those shitty Seth Rogen movies. Hannibal's bit about flicking pickle juice is hilarious, and his take on world conquest and rape is also very funny -- one of few rape bits I find funny, as most just attempt to be edgy and don't tell jokes so much as they just promote rape and hide behind "comedy" like they're some sort of badass.

    As to Cosby, I suppose everyone has their demons. Not that I'd let any out-of-court settlements skew my view one way or the other. If you have money, prepare to be sued. That's the world we live in. If I had to guess, I'd say a solid 50% of settlements paid are paid out by innocent people who just don't want the long process nor do they want to leave in the hands of strangers their fate, reputation and livelihoods.

    As for Cosby's social stances, something the whole of America, race be damned, needs to face head-on: Nobody is going to listen to positive messages and honest criticism so long as the white-people-are-holding-you-down narrative is playing in the forefront. It's never gonna happen. Ever. Another 10,000 years wouldn't matter on that front. It's done blew past logic and mathematics and now lies solely in emotion. And that's a minefield if ever there were one, impossible to navigate.

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  2. @Josh...

    "As for Cosby's social stances, something the whole of America, race be damned, needs to face head-on: Nobody is going to listen to positive messages and honest criticism so long as the white-people-are-holding-you-down narrative is playing in the forefront"

    That statement is offensive, inaccurate and sounds like an opinion based on listening to how white liberals and white conservative frame issues impacting a certain segment of the African American community; and what some so-called black conservatives tell white conservatives about our community to curry favor.

    "Nobody is going to listen to positive messages and honest criticism"

    What the hell are you implying?

    The core messages from black churches, fraternities/sororities, NAACP, Nation of Islam, 100 Black Men, and 99% of other black activist organizations is predicated on self-determination and self-sufficiency.


    I have many different discussions with my conservative friends (black and white) and since we come to the conversation avoiding grossly inflating statements -- "nobody is going to listen to positive messages -- our conversations are not minefield.

    If that statement is your starting point or your underlining message, your conversations probably sound one-sided and extremely judgmental.

    IMHO, people that sound like you should look not out but gaze inward. So, if your perspective is based on your experiences -- I can see why? And seriously dude, I do not no one single black that simply states blame whitey -- not one!

    You live in the DC area -- hence I can suggest churches nearby and you can hear the message straight from the messengers that actually live in these communities and not in a TV studio. I doubt you would go because it would destroy your narrative and you need that narrative like you need water.

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