Comedian W. Kamau Bell, well-liked for his FXX present Completely Biased with W. Kamau Bell and the CNN sequence United Shades of America, has a brand new four-part documentary sequence known as We Want To Discuss About Cosby. “Invoice Cosby had been one in all my heroes,” he admits within the two-minute trailer. “I’m a Black man, standup comedian. I used to be born within the ’70s. However this…? This was f*cked up! What will we do with all the pieces we find out about Invoice Cosby and what we all know?”
Rolling Stone introduced the venture final month, and Bell gave an announcement at the moment. “As a toddler of Invoice Cosby, I used to be an enormous fan of all his reveals and wished to be a comic due to him,” he mentioned. “I by no means thought I’d ever wrestle with who all of us thought Cosby was and who we now perceive him to be. I’m undecided he would need me to do that work, however Cliff Huxtable positively would.”
The 84-year-old comic had lengthy been hailed as “America’s Dad” for his portrayal of Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable on his landmark 80’s sitcom The Cosby Present. Extra so, his intensive physique of labor – which ranges from applications like I, Spy and The Electrical Firm to the animated sequence Fats Albert and the Cosby Children – was deliberate in exhibiting Black characters in a optimistic gentle, which landed him as one the highest statesmen of Black America.
Cosby’s problematic 2004 “Pound Cake” speech was the primary main signal of the disconnect between him and the youthful generations, although. However it could be one decade later when comic Hannibal Burress’ rape joke modified the outlook on Cosby from a “grumpy previous man” to a long-time sexual predator.
Just like R. Kelly, the query turns into how will we separate the artwork from the artist, particularly when their works comprise the soundtracks/backdrops of the tradition? Is it potential? And will we?
Esteemed actress Phylicia Rashad, who performed alongside Cosby as his partner on each The Cosby Present and his second eponymous sitcom, discovered herself having to backtrack feedback that upset Cosby’s accusers. “FINALLY!!!! A horrible flawed is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” she first tweeted upon information of Cosby’s launch from jail.
After public outcry, Rashad deleted the tweet and posted an apology. “My remarks have been by no means directed in the direction of survivors of sexual assault,” she wrote. “I vehemently oppose sexual violence, discover no excuse for such habits, and I do know that Howard College has a zero-tolerance coverage towards interpersonal violence.”
Jasmine Man, greatest identified for enjoying Southern belle Whitey Gilbert on A Totally different World, mentioned she solely met Cosby a handful of occasions however is disillusioned due to how his off-screen actions now mar the influence of his work. “It’s heartbreaking for these of us within the enterprise that admire him, his expertise and his thoughts — after which as a Black particular person, it’s heartbreaking as a result of he meant so much to the neighborhood,” she instructed Web page Six.
Professor Marc Lamont Hill says “Cosby was our instructor” in Bell’s docuseries, and Roland Martin reminds viewers that we “can’t discuss Black America within the twentieth century and never speak about Invoice Cosby.”
We Want To Discuss About Cosby will air through digital screening at 12 p.m. EDT on January 22 on the 2022 Sundance Movie Pageant. You too can watch the four-part documentary starting Sunday, January 30 on Showtime.
Photograph: Kelly Sullivan / Getty
