If the accounts from at least 15 women are to be believed, a monster lurks behind the affable façade that Bill Cosby has cultivated over the years. Cosby, at age 77, is being rocked by numerous charges of sexual assault by numerous women, some going back decades. According to the accusations, Cosby was able to use high-powered lawyers and the strength of his celebrity to get away with it.
Hot Air suggests that the charges, which will likely never see the inside of a courtroom, may well have ended Cosby's career as an actor and a comedian. Netflix has already cancelled a comedy special featuring Cosby on the occasion of his birthday. NBC has cancelled a new sitcom in which Cosby would play a curmudgeonly but loveable grandfather.
On the one hand, Cosby, like everyone, has the presumption of innocence. Many of the allegations are so old that they have passed the statute of limitations. Civil action is still possible, however.
Besides, the image of a man who slips roofies to women in order to assault them goes against the image of a man who once sold pudding pops and played funny, but wise characters on TV. He was the first African-American action hero in the 1960s TV show "I Spy." His 1980s family sitcom was a classic. One simply does not want to believe it. One wants to cry out, "Dr. Huxtable, tell us it ain't so!" Cosby, through his lawyers, has denied all the allegations.
On the other hand, this is not a case of one man's word against one woman, but rather one man vs. 15 and apparently counting. One does not have to believe the accusations. But under the circumstances one has to discuss them. Cosby needs to address them directly for they will otherwise remain a cloud over him for the rest of his life and afterwards.