Some have stayed silent about Cosby while others have found ways to attack him.
"I was not friends with him," C.I. says. "He was way too conservative for my tastes. But I did find it funny that no one could say anything to nice about him in the last years even if they owed him. A number of people -- especially White performers -- owed him big time. I can, for example, think of a certain Twitter presence who probably wouldn't have a career today if Bill Cosby hadn't agreed to open and introduce the person's attempt at a comeback after their first flame out in the sixties. Had he done that for me, I would've found a way to note a good quality or two. That's not defending him against his conviction but that is noting that he was a bit more complex."
Complexity flies out the window when someone gets convicted which is how a 'journalist' like Michael Cieply (DEADLINE) feels he can get away with typing this:
Cosby, just convicted on sexual assault charges, may have been the easier decision. After all, he was never much of a feature film presence (though I have a weak spot for Hickey & Boggs).
WTF? What a racist.
Bill Cosby's 70s and 80s film output, via WIKIPEDIA:
| 1971 | Aesop's Fables | Aesop | |
| 1972 | Hickey & Boggs | Al Hickey | |
| 1974 | Uptown Saturday Night | Wardell Franklin | |
| 1975 | Let's Do It Again | Billy Foster | |
| 1976 | Mother, Jugs & Speed | Mother | |
| 1977 | A Piece of the Action | Dave Anderson | |
| 1978 | California Suite | Dr. Willis Panama | |
| 1981 | The Devil and Max Devlin | Barney Satin | |
| 1987 | Leonard Part 6 | Leonard Parker |
Sidney Poitier was the first African-American film star and he became a film star in the 50s. In the 70s, the decade Bill Cosby began starring in films, Poitier acted in nine films.
The three biggest African-American film stars who came to prominence in the 70s were Richard Pryor (LADY SINGS THE BLUES, THE MACK, SOME CALL IT LOVING, HIT!, UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT, ADIOS AMIGO, THE BINGO LONG TRAVELING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS, CAR WASH, SILVER STREAK, GREASE LIGHTNING, WHICH WAS IS UP?, BLUE COLLAR, THE WIZ and CALIFORNIA SUITE), Diana Ross (LADY SINGS THE BLUES, MAHOGANY and THE WIZ) and Billy Dee Williams (MAHOGANY, LADY SINGS THE BLUES, THE FINAL COMEDOWN, HIT!, THE TAKE, THE BINGO LONG TRAVELING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS and, in the 80s, he began playing Lando in the STAR WARS films).
Richard was the biggest male movie star and his credits show it. But Diana and Billy Dee were also movie stars and their fewer credits go to Hollywood's inability to create major projects for African-Americans in the 70s -- especially African-American women.
In that context, with that context, it is clear that Bill Cosby was a major film presence.
His had major roles in films that co-starred Jane Fonda, Richard Pryor, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Raquel Welch, Harvey Keitel, Ossie Davis, Flip Wilson, Jimmie Walker, Denise Nichols, James Earl Jones, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Susan Anspach, Elliott Gould, Rosalind Cash, Isabel Sanford and James Woods, among others. He worked for major studios -- WARNER BROTHERS, COLUMBIA, 20TH CENTURY FOX, etc.
You may or may not like the work that Bill Cosby did in films but you have no right to lie about it and pretend like he was not a major film presence in the 70s.
We won't -- and don't -- defend him for his conviction. That's on his record. But his record also includes blazing a trail for African-Americans on TV and, yes, in film. His criminal conviction doesn't give anyone the right to lie about that -- but isn't that how society's always handled convictions? By pretending the convicted was less than human, had nothing worthy of praise? People are a little more complex than that -- even if our need to demonize says otherwise.
