You can feel free to call me a 90’s baby. I grew up in the 90’s.
My early years consisted of Saturday afternoon wrestling on Fox 5 after “Life With Louie,” or Dionne Warwick’s Psychic Friends Network. I grew up knowing if I caught “Bobby’s World” after school it was a great day. Beeper gum? Yeah that was me. Johnny Quest every evening? That was me. The amusement park behind Burger King by Kings Plaza? Me again! Another huge part of my growing up was sitcoms. The earliest sitcom I remember watching was The Cosby Show.
The Cosby show was just simply funny to me. I know it showcased our people in a high regard and that was cool. That didn’t really resonate with me strongly till I got a little older and my mother became a single parent. I was born into a pretty middle class lifestyle. I was born into a two parent home. So seeing that depicted on television didn’t blow me away because it was my reality. But again, the show made me laugh. The show gave us ways to solve issues while still showing love albeit tough love.
The brand of Bill Cosby was damn near that of Cliff Huxtable.
He was to be a clean cut, prudent decision maker. An accountable man who revered the value of education and integrity. This is the man that bill Cosby sold himself to be off the set. I believed him. As a preteen I used to read the “Little Bill” series. I dug it. I still think they were good books. So you can understand my dismay, my chagrin when I learned of rape allegations that have followed him for decades.
All stemming from a reference by a stand-up comedian last year, the floodgates opened. Alleged victim after victim came forward saying basically the same thing. They said that Bill Cosby drugged them all and proceeded to have sexual contact with them. Now to me, a twenty-six year old, I never heard such things about Bill. As far as I was concerned, for the better part of two decades Bill Cosby seemed to be as clean as a whistle. I never considered myself to be naïve on this issue either. Everybody has vices, I just never thought there would be this ugly of a side to Bill.
Recently there has been confirmation that Bill Cosby did indeed admit during a 2005 deposition to drugging women with the intention to sleep with them. He asked that the information stay private. This revelation actually took place in 2005 and has now been brought to the light. In 2005 I was in high school and by that point was very much engulfed in my love for hip hop. It was around this time where Bill Cosby really began using his platform to be critical of the hip hop culture. I’m pretty sure he made many comments in the past but I was probably too young to remember that he ever made them. I grew up in the era where Bill was very critical of men wearing pants below their waist. He spoke out against violent lyrics and misogyny depicted in the music.
What he was standing for was perfectly fine.
A common sentiment he had was shared by many of his generation. They never put into context the music and the environments from which it was cultivated. Nevertheless, the standard that Cosby wanted our black culture to live by was a positive one. This all the while continued to fortify that squeaky clean Cliff Huxtable imagery.
For a moment I would like us to assume that all these women consented to sex.
Let us say that the 80’s were crazy and everyone was doing “Spanish Fly.” Let’s say they consented to receiving the Quaaludes. This still means that Cosby was a chronic adulterer. Camille Cosby has stayed with Bill through all of this behavior. This lifestyle isn’t congruent with the type of philanthropic work that they tout. It also isn’t any example of living a life up to the standard that Bill constantly spoke of for our people. That’s my beef with Bill Cosby. He’s a really black pot calling the kettle black. It’s upsetting. It’s disheartening. It’s also indicative that we cannot put all this esteem into any solitary person. We all fall short. Even the preachiest of the preachy like Bill. Bill Cosby should be held accountable for any wrongs he has committed. My millennials should hold Bill accountable for the false life he has shown himself to live. He should be ashamed that the people who embrace a culture he can’t stand probably have more character than he seemingly ever had. It sucks right? This is another example of living more life and learning more lessons. Bill, you got a lot of nerve homie.
What are your thoughts on this whole fiasco?
These are my words and I make no apologies.
DamnPops is a writer and podcaster on the staff at SBM: “I’m not a biter, I’m a writer for myself and others. ” Follow me on Twitter @DamnPOPS and @NegroPPodcast . Also, subscribe on iTunes to the Negro Please Podcast and visit our website here!
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