This is the creative genius known throughout America and the world
For over five decades we lived with the father image of Bill Cosby not only on T.V. and movies but, also, and especially, at his home with his wife Camille Olivia Hanks, their five children, girls, Erika Renee, Erin Chalene, Esna Camille, Evin Harrah, and a boy, now deceased, Ennis William.
We actually envied and tried to copy that family life.
We would literally schedule our T.V.’s to watch the “The Cosby Show”, “I Spy”, “Fat Albert”, “Electric Company”, “Sesame Street”, and all of the other Bill Cosby specials, and also enjoyed his commercials like, Jello, and Kodak Camera.
We would all group up together at home in a family setting because of our family “hero”; Cosby.
When then 22-year old Autumn Jackson claimed that she was Cosby’s illegitimate child some people were shocked. While he admitted to having an affair with her mother many forgave his indiscretion since Camille and the children seemed to accept it. After all, he was paying child support.
Autumn Jackson was born after an affair Cosby had with her mother, Shawn Berkes, in the 1970’s, and although he denied being the father and the D.N.A. proved it, he still paid over $100,000. Jackson was later convicted of trying to extort $40 million from Cosby; in return she would not publically claim she was his illegitimate daughter.
Tragically, Cosby’s only son Ennis, 27, a Special Children’s Education teacher, was murdered in January 16, 1997 on a California highway by Mikail Markasev, an 18 year old Ukrainian, hater of Black people who boasted of the crime by stating publicly, “I shot and killed a Nigger”.
For his crime he received life without parole after Cosby asked the Prosecutor not to seek the death penalty.
Now Cosby is dealing with another personal nightmare.
So far 17 women, one of whom claims she was only 15 years of age, have stepped up to accuse Cosby of drugging them and raping them, in addition to the latest charge that he had also sexually attacked 12 Playboy Bunnies. The count now is 29 sexual abuse charges by Cosby victims.
There is also the skit where Cosby jokes about Spanish fly as an aphrodisiac that helps get women into bed. Now social media discussion is about whether it was more than a skit. Did Cosby in fact rely on some sort of stimulants to drug females? After all, “normal” romancing took a lot of time and there was always the possibility of rejection.
Then there is the issue of the well-known casting couch in Hollywood where ladies “audition” for parts in movies. Some of the accusers allege that they met Cosby in his hotel suite, or in his dressing room.
After an introductory conversation, and a few drinks, the women stated that they woke up during the night, or the next morning, in a state of undress with Bill Cosby also nude sleeping next to them.
Some of the women alleging they were raped by Cosby claimed that a feeling of shame and disillusionment prevented them from immediately revealing the incidents, given Cosby’s fame.
Did these alleged incidents really happen or is someone playing a cruel joke on us on the way to a punchline? It certainly isn’t very funny destroying a man’s character, especially the iconic Bill Cosby’s in this horrendous fashion.
Yet could all these incidents have been made up?
In 1976, Tamara Green a future Lawyer had helped Bill Cosby open a night club in Los Angeles. One night she called off because she felt sick but Cosby invited her to his nearby restaurant, “Figero” to help her get better.
Green claims when she arrived Cosby gave her 2 red and grey contac pills, and that within 30 minutes she felt “stoned” and weak. She claims when he took her home, he kissed her and tried to undress her. She claims she fought back screaming, “You are going to have to kill me”. She claims Cosby then let her go, dropped $200 on her table and hurriedly left her house. She says she wasn’t raped but assaulted.
Another woman who claims she was a rape victim, Beth Ferrier, says she met Cosby in 1989 while modeling in New York and they had an affair that lasted six months, which he suddenly ended without any explanation.
She claims that after a long time he called her at her home in Denver, Colorado and she agreed to meet him at his club dressing room. Cosby gave her coffee, and almost immediately she felt very dizzy, she claims. Hours later she awoke in the rear seat of her car, her clothing completely undone, she claims. A security guard then drove her home. The next day she claims that when she confronted Cosby, he stated to her, “You just drank too much”, and walked away, she claims.
Ferrier’s story, from alleged consensual relations to the drugging incident of course raises questions of credibility.
Other women like Barbara Bowman an actress, and Renita Chaney Hill, both claim they were drugged, fondled and kissed by Cosby. Renita claims she was only 15 years of age. “This happened many times, and I know it was him because I remember the foul taste of his cigar in my mouth,” Renita says.
Kristina Ruehli, claims that in her case, Cosby invited her to his home for a party, and when she arrived, she was the only guest.
Ruehli, 22 at that time, claims Cosby served her a drink that made her disoriented and that she passed out. She awoke in Cosby’s bed, and he was trying to force her to have oral sex, she claims.
In an interview Ruehli claims she’s coming out to support the other women because she is wealthy and doesn’t need Cosby’s money.
The list of accusers gets longer with every passing day, which in itself is questionable.
A former assistant of Bill Cosby, Frank Scotti, claimed to The Daily News that not only did he stand guard by Cosby’s dressing room door but that he also paid off some of the women Cosby associated with. “This went on for years, between 1984-92, during the run of The Cosby Show”, he stated.
The main problem, and the reason why the stories have taken a life of their own and gained traction is because Bill Cosby has not attempted to defend himself. In one television interview, that was to focus on another matter, he was practically pleading with the interviewer not to ask any questions regarding the rape accusations.
In my opinion, from the first sexual attack accusations, Cosby should have defended himself knowing that his reputation would be severely damaged in public, here and around the world.
Was Cosby hoping that due to his fatherly reputation and because many fans idolize him therefore these accusations would simply fade away? Yet they keep increasing.
As a result of all of these sex abuse allegations Cosby has lost his endorsements; and a T.V. show in the works has been cancelled.
I wonder how Camille Cosby and Bill’s four daughters feel and think?
For decades Bill Cosby kept telling everyone especially the Black community to uplift themselves and their children, through discipline and education. Cosby would scold the parents for not asserting themselves and their children. “Stop living in the mental poverty of failure, and push yourselves to succeed,” he said.
Philanthropically, for years Cosby has given away millions of dollars to many charitable causes especially to the Black community to uplift education in terms of scholarships, and at one time donated as much as $20 million dollars to Spellman College.
Most of his shows and comedy routines were all portrayed in a positive non-profane manner; the iconic Dr. Cliff Huxtable of “The Cosby Show” was almost saintly with a positive message.
Breaking the color line in the T.V. series with “I Spy”, he was awarded three straight Emmys in 1967, 1968, 1969.
Say it isn’t so Bill Cosby; defend yourself.
So who is the “real” Bill Cosby? The silence forces many people to draw a negative conclusion.
