The legendary Bill Cosby and his team recently sat down with ABC news’ Linsey Davis to talk about his recent partnership with the nonprofit Black Belt Community Foundation and its new campaign to improve education in the south-central Alabama. As part of the partnership, Cosby will meet with students at Selma High School and march across the hi
storic Edmund Pettus Bridge—where in 1965 six hundred peaceful marchers assembled in support of black voting rights and were brutally attacked and beaten by police.
Cosby volunteering his time to this cause is no surprise, after all he and his wife Camille are widely known for being generous philanthropists having given millions of dollars towards education over the decades. After his son Ennis was killed in 1997, the family established the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation to provide funds for education of disadvantaged youths.
Despite all of the great work Cosby has done he has recently become more identified with the sexual assault allegations than his charitable donations. So it was inevitable that this topic would come up. As much as I respect Mr. Cosby and wanted him to finally speak out against these charges, I have to admit that this interview was cringe worthy. Even with his Mount Rushmore of folks sitting beside him, Cosby managed to give several bewildering non-answers.Cosby
His responses were the equivalent of a verbal funhouse—nothing really made sense. The title of the interview was “Bill Cosby speaks out,” but a more apt title would have been “Bill Cosby speaks out, in, left, right, and other ways.” But don’t take my word for it check the video
I knew we were in trouble when Davis asked the first question.
Davis: “Are you prepared for the backlash if a young person comes up and says: my mom said you did some bad things, are you guilty? Did you do it?”
Now I am no PR professional but I believe a good innocent persons answer to that would be something like, No. I am innocent. Instead, Mr. Cosby decided to say:
Cosby: “I’m not sure that they will come like that. I think that many of them say, ‘Well, you are a hypocrite. You say one thing, you say the other.’ My point is, ‘OK, listen to me carefully. I’m telling you where the road is out. Now, you want to go here or you want to be concerned about who is giving you the message?”
Well….I kind of wanted you to say I did not assault those women. But lets move on.
The interview gets even more bizarre as The Cos attempts to answer more questions in a strange Riddler like manner.
Davis: “Are you concerned that the allegations may overshadow your message?”
Simple enough question, right?
Cosby: “I have been in this business 52 years. I’ve never seen anything like this. And reality is… the situation. And I can’t speak.”
You can see the full interview by clicking the link but if you’d like to keep your memories of Cliff Huxtable intact, I wouldn’t bother. I truly hope that Mr. Cosby will see this situation resolved, as it’s a shame to sully all of the great work he has done for kids and communities over the years.
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