John White reflects on Bill Cosby. How he felt about him then, and how he feels about him now.
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As a child in the 80’s, I grew up watching the Cosby Show along with millions of others. I idolized Bill Cosby, and the fictional dad he played, Cliff Huxtable. I always knew that I would be a dad someday, and watching Cosby as a kid I remember thinking, “I want to be a funny dad like that.” I still do the “bucking horse,” with my kids. Those of you that watched the Cosby Show will remember that is when he put the kids on his knee and rocked back and forth like a wild horse. My kids love it.
For the Huxtable’s, there was never a problem too big that they couldn’t resolve in a half hour episode. However, that was on tv, the real-world is a different place and the problems facing Cosby now are more than any of us could have imagined while watching an episode of the Cosby show years ago.
In the last several months more than fifty women have come forward with accusations of sexual misconduct that span decades, Cosby was charged with felony aggravated indecent assault earlier this week. The allegations are being made by Andrea Constand saying that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted the former Temple University employee Andrea at his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania mansion, in January 2004.
The charges against Cosby show a clear pattern of misconduct. The suspects were all urged to drink wine or take pills, the effects of which left them incapacitated and unable to rebuff his unwanted advances. Even Cosby’s biggest supporters like myself cannot deny the huge cloud of guilt that looms large. Cosby’s legacy will forever be tarnished even if his high paid legal team can somehow finagle an acquittal in this case. There are still the fifty other women whose acquisitions are difficult to refute.
For the millions of his fans, we will never again be able to view the Cosby Show the way we did before. The innocence of something that was once so pure is now so grossly tarnished. I’m sad to have lost a piece of my childhood that I held onto so dearly. As a dad of two daughters, I’m sickened to think of what Cosby did to those women.
As fans of Cosby, we are left to love his work and hate his crimes. It’s going to be very difficult for me to separate the two. How about you?
Photo: Flickr/Post Memes
I understand what you’re saying. It goes to show how people place these people on pedestals. But not only the person but the character he/she plays on TV or in the movies. They are actors and actresses who make a living playing a role. The question is, does their personal screwed up life make the character they play or the show and its conveyed values less valid? Sadly, Bills personal life was “thought” to be as upstanding as the role he played on his TV show. What I don’t understand is how these personalities, knowing in their own head what… Read more »