Controversial Bill Cosby docuseries to highlight his life and victims

Listen to this article here

Bill Cosby. Again.

This coming Sunday Showtime will release W. Kamau Bell’s docuseries “We Need to Talk About Cosby.”

According to Bell, the documentary will serve as a safe space for Coby’s victims to tell their stories. It will also feature celebs and culture critics who painstakingly give their own perspective on the disgraced comedian.

Bell began the project even as Cosby was serving time in a state prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand. However late last July, Cosby was released after Pennyslvania’s Supreme Court vacated the charges on a judicial technicality.

bill cosby court — FILE – In a Tuesday Sept. 25, 2018 file photo, Bill Cosby is escorted out of the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, in Eagleville, Pa., following his sentencing to three-to-10-year prison sentence for sexual assault. Cosby’s lawyers want a court to overturn the actor’s conviction and three- to 10-year sentence in his Pennsylvania sex assault case because of what they call a string of trial errors. The defense motion argues that trial Judge Steven O’Neill erred in declaring Cosby a sexually violent predator who should be imprisoned to protect the community. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma, File)

Bill Cosby is Free. But with a Price.

Once thought of as ‘America’s Dad’, the kids have been forced to grow up quickly and see the man for whom he was all along. The sheer number of accusers along with the amount of years he was able to scapegoat any responsibility should be baffling. Yet it’s not. Cosby, like so many of the rich and powerful, has been well-insulated from prying eyes as they do their worst.

Reports of bad behavior, sexual misconduct, and even rape are routinely brushed aside by the ultra-rich and even better connected. Bill Cosby’s conviction was one of the first bombshells in the #MeToo era. Most believed he would spend the remainder of his natural life locked up. But we were wrong.

Comedians police their own. But it’s not enough.

With his ability to now live and speak freely, Cosby and his camp have voiced their opposition to the docuseries. They cite their inability to participate in the film as a major editorial detractor, as it includes much of Cosby’s life. When asked about his reluctance to include Bill, W. Kamua retorted that the focus of the series should instead be on the victims.

Even while lambasting a nuclear polarizing figure such as Bill Cosby, there will be critics who believe the film doesn’t go far enough. For a man accused and convicted of such heinous offenses, what is far enough at this point? Now that he is free, perhaps Bell is banking on the public shaming that’s bound to follow. Even still, the sad truth is what’s done is done. The series can only tell stories that should’ve been listened to many years ago.

The docuseries will air in 4 one-hour parts beginning Jan. 30 at 10pm E.S.T. on Showtime.

Bill Cosby is Free. But with a Price.

Ezekiel J. Walker

One reply on “Controversial Bill Cosby docuseries to highlight his life and victims”