Piling on is inevitable in a case like this.
FWIW there was piling on in the Sandusky case (e.g. some of the accusations were based on “recovered memories”).
It’s the cumulative weight of the evidence that counts, not any specific accusation.
It depends on what the pharmaceutical was, and that can’t be determined at this point.
Regards,
Shodan
Is it? There was a huge “cumulative weight” of testimonial evidence in the McMartin case, which was 100% fabricated/coerced, IIRC.
I want to be clear that I am not defending either Cosby or any degree of misogynistic behavior, especially when it may involve serious sexual assault and some form of rape. The evidence is sufficient that something went on, went on for a long time and was ignored or swept aside.
However… we are talking about an era before many of us were born, or were children. That was a long time ago in many ways. Is it fair to judge those events, especially ones like "a forceful kiss, in 2014 terms? There is no doubt in my mind that most men in any position of power in times before maybe 1980 used their power, public charm, insulation etc. to commit continual acts that today would be judged and prosecuted as sexual assault. Does it make it any better that such things were tolerated? Is our current sensitivity too high, or not yet high enough? But is it in any way reasonable to judge actions and behaviors of 40-50 years ago by the way they would be regarded if they happened last week?
I think it’s very unlikely Cosby is going to see any legal consequences and probably no court-driven financial ones… but if we’re going to end the guy’s career on these tawdry charges, I think they need to be weighed carefully against time and place as much as in any absolute (present-day) sense.
Something makes you uncomfortable, you label it as hate speech.
He’s 77 and going blind. This planned tour is probably his last hurrah.
Once the furor dies down, he will probably still be able to get booked into small clubs and do pay per view specials on the internet, if he so chooses. His die hard supporters will still pay to see him.
eta He’ll still be welcome at the colleges he’s given tens of millions of dollars to, and any other institution that hopes to benefit from his largesse.
These are good points. I’m only saying that the fact that some of these charges are overblown doesn’t mean that all of them are. So while it’s a mistake to take every one of them as gospel, it’s also a mistake to focus on the weaker ones in an effort to dismiss all of them.
That’s showbiz for you. People pay if they want to see you and they don’t pay if they don’t want to see you. There’s no right and wrong about it. If your type of humor or music goes out of style your career ends, and if your type of morality goes out of style it can end too.
If something strikes me as being hateful then I might label it as hate speech.
As it happens, your own contributions to this thread don’t actually strike me as being hateful.
I do think they show a disturbingly dismissive attitude to the alleged victims and, combined with comments from some other posters, they have served to drag the discussion down.
Thanks to this, the OP has left the thread she started. Which is a shame.
I’m not sure why people keep harping on how long ago these charges were. The case he settled occurred in 2005. I was around in 2005 and attitudes were not that different then.
However, let’s look at the best case scenario for Cosby. The best I can come up with is that while he has made his career based on being a loving family man, married to the same woman for decades, at the very least he was a womanizer who slept with multiple women, and propositioned even more. In addition, assuming that these women are lying, he apparently used his power and position to convince women that if they slept with him he would help their careers and then did not necessarily come through on his promises. Whether or not he is guilty of rape or sexual assault, he’s still a scumbag.
I guess that would explain the hideous appendix scar … that is totally in the wrong place!
I have heard these allegations for a while and I just try to remember that I need to separate his personal problems from his art. Why should I suffer because he is a criminal (allegedly)? I hope he gets his comeuppance from a purely cosmic (I guess) standpoint, mind you. I just don’t care to hear every detail about it.
Same goes for Tom Cruise and his Scientology lunacy.
Gee, ya think? There’s this new Freedom of Speech thing going on all over the college campuses. I don’t know if he’d want to face the sorts of protests he would invoke.
It wasn’t very “adorable” when he told Theo he could and would murder his ass anytime he felt like it just because he was his father.
Forcefully kissing a person is assault. I mean sure, she’s adding to the pile with something that’s not as horrible as rape, but that doesn’t keep it from being what it is. If she was forcefully kissed she was assaulted. Punishable by law. I really wouldn’t want to get into stuff that sounds like, “but these other people suffered more so why should your experience matter.”
Right now all this is doing the job of telling other women, “Yeah, you probably don’t want to hang out with Bill Cosby.” That’s the general idea of coming forward with statements like these at this time.
In the mid-80s Cosby took an interest in the career of Robin Givens, who was then a 20 year old Harvard pre-med student and slightly beyond gorgeous. He even financially guaranteed her tuition if she’d her give show biz dreams a chance. I’d be curious to hear her weigh in on whether he creeped her out at the time.
Has there been any women that Cosby has worked with over the years, rushing forward to defend him?
I think that’s a very good point. Typically, you’ll have friends & associates issue statements to support the accused, but it seems that others who might be “in the know” are strangely quiet on this issue.
She was NOT a pre-med student. She had already finished her undergraduate studies (at Sarah Lawrence).
(Millions have been made off of docu-dramas which were a lot less juicy and with far fewer smoking gun facts and a lot fewer coincidences)
Credit: Using the “Follow The Money” principal
In the '70s, BC was tapping a market that was a huge cash cow for all the people who did business with him. He had existing revenue streams, current revenue and future income potential for them that was large enough to be worth protecting.
The people behind the allegations against him? Historically, they all quieted down during this period of time.
In the 80s, BC was tapping a huge market share audience and his books and records were still pulling in big bucks. He had existing revenue streams, current revenue and future income potential for them that was large enough to be worth protecting.
New people behind the allegations quieted down & the old ones kept their mouths shut during this time as well.
In the 90’s, BC was still pulling in massive money from reruns for all of his business partners. Even his Saturday morning cartoons were still showing in re-runs 20 years later. He had existing revenue streams, current revenue and future income potential for them that was large enough to be worth protecting. Historically, the allegations got very little play and people who’d make them in the past, for the most part, continued to stay silent.
Today: BC no longer has huge revenue streams showering onto his business partners: the re-runs have stopped on all his shows for the most part, people are not buying his older books/albums much, and he only has a potential future revenue stream which can be severed and distanced from quickly.
Imagine a TV movie commercial featuring this conversation:
“Sorry Bill; we’ve covered & intimidated for you for 30 years.”
“But you made Millions off of me…”
“As did you…”
“You’re going to throw me to the wolves?”
“You did that Bill. We’re just not going to pay and use up favors to have Corporate Security cover for you anymore. As far as you’re concerned, ‘Ray Donovan’ is just a show on HBO.”
“You Son-of-A-Bitch…!”
“Maybe, Bill, maybe… but at least I’m not a rapist. Get help Bill. And from now on, only contact my office through your agent.”
click
I’d love to see what insects would crawl out to squirm in the sunshine if any of that was even remotely true… especially if he ever plead-out to Roll Over on Corporate… 
Correction: Med student.
Or maybe she put out like crazy, so this wasn’t an issue.