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1
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Uh, so it's gonna be this one,
2
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and you just hit the blue play button.
3
00:00:05,547 --> 00:00:06,798
Right.
4
00:00:08,383 --> 00:00:09,551
Just push play when you're ready.
5
00:00:09,592 --> 00:00:10,719
Yeah, there you go.
6
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And then, uh...
All right, thank you.
7
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Well, now,
8
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it certainly is nice to see them
9
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work things out for themselves.
10
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They haven't worked anything
out for themselves.
11
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It's my barbecue sauce.
12
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Your barbecue sauce?
My barbecue sauce.
13
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Haven't you ever noticed after people
14
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have some of my barbecue sauce,
15
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after a while when it kicks in,
16
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they get all huggy-buggy?
17
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Wow, this is suddenly creepy.
Oh!
18
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After one of my barbecues
and they have the sauce,
19
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people want to get right home?
20
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He's got this look on his face.
21
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It's-it's very creepy.
22
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I got a cup of it
23
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up on the night table in our bedroom.
24
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I got a cup of it, I said.
25
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Left it up there breathing.
26
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Why don't you give
the chicken to these people?
27
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Let's go on up and have some sauce.
28
00:01:08,943 --> 00:01:11,654
So here's the rest of the chicken, you guys.
29
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Dr. Huxtable, I love this chicken.
30
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You know, Rudy, you look real nice today.
31
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I don't need to watch any more of that.
32
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Wow.
33
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That's just not okay.
It-it's...
34
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it's actually kind of stunning, um,
35
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how that slipped by so many of us.
36
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Yeah, it's--in hindsight, it's incredibly dark.
37
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I don't-I don't--you know, I don't know.
38
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The-the thing with the barbecue sauce
39
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had been a running gag for several seasons.
40
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You know.
41
00:01:48,358 --> 00:01:51,611
Let's not become too puritanical, shall we?
42
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It very much feels like
Bill Cosby is giving us
43
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a blueprint to what he's doing
44
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when he's not playing America's dad.
45
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That made my armpits sweat.
46
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That's the first time I've been like, "Ew."
47
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48
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49
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My mommy and daddy, they died.
50
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Now I live with George and Katherine.
51
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Let's roll!
52
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Ooh!
53
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Three, roast him!
54
00:03:00,513 --> 00:03:02,724
The 1980s came in hot.
55
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It was an unprecedented
56
00:03:06,394 --> 00:03:07,896
cultural explosion in America,
57
00:03:07,937 --> 00:03:10,023
and we shipped it around the world:
58
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music, movies...
59
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I am your father.
60
00:03:13,902 --> 00:03:14,819
...TV...
61
00:03:14,861 --> 00:03:15,570
What you talkin' about, Willis?
62
00:03:15,612 --> 00:03:17,071
...technology.
63
00:03:17,113 --> 00:03:18,907
And for the first time
in this country's history,
64
00:03:18,948 --> 00:03:21,492
Black folks were right there
in the center of it.
65
00:03:21,534 --> 00:03:24,078
66
00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:26,915
And the key year was 1984.
67
00:03:26,956 --> 00:03:30,877
We went from being Black
stars to worldwide icons.
68
00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,255
69
00:03:34,297 --> 00:03:35,590
Hell, we even thought we might get
70
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our first Black president.
71
00:03:38,092 --> 00:03:38,885
Not yet.
72
00:03:38,927 --> 00:03:42,430
73
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But at the same time
74
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the media was turning Black celebrities
75
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into worldwide phenomenons,
it was doing this...
76
00:03:49,646 --> 00:03:51,272
to the rest of us.
77
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This is Newark, New Jersey,
one of America's inner cities.
78
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"Inner city" is a polite name for ghetto,
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as in Black ghetto.
80
00:03:58,947 --> 00:04:00,949
Most Black children are now growing up
81
00:04:00,990 --> 00:04:02,408
without their fathers.
82
00:04:02,450 --> 00:04:05,161
In the 1980s, mainstream media
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00:04:05,203 --> 00:04:08,289
has now presented the view,
84
00:04:08,331 --> 00:04:10,792
"Oh, this is the Black family:
85
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destructive,
86
00:04:12,335 --> 00:04:15,129
strung out on crack,
87
00:04:15,171 --> 00:04:17,632
sons and fathers in prison."
88
00:04:18,967 --> 00:04:21,886
The 1980s, it was this
almost apocalyptic sense
89
00:04:21,928 --> 00:04:24,305
of what was happening in Black America.
90
00:04:24,347 --> 00:04:27,475
People were worried
91
00:04:27,517 --> 00:04:29,727
that the hard-fought advances
92
00:04:29,769 --> 00:04:33,731
from the 1960s and 1970s were being eroded,
93
00:04:33,773 --> 00:04:34,983
if not reversed.
94
00:04:37,193 --> 00:04:38,444
There was a tension
95
00:04:38,486 --> 00:04:41,114
between images of Black folks like this
96
00:04:41,155 --> 00:04:42,991
and images of Black folks like this.
97
00:04:44,867 --> 00:04:48,037
And there was an opportunity
for something or someone
98
00:04:48,079 --> 00:04:50,081
to resolve that tension.
99
00:04:50,456 --> 00:04:52,041
Bill Cosby's back...
100
00:04:52,083 --> 00:04:53,501
Who's in trouble now?
101
00:04:53,543 --> 00:04:55,044
...as a loving family man.
102
00:04:55,086 --> 00:04:57,839
I heard about The Cosby Show
coming out on TV Guide.
103
00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:00,216
Oh, there's another Black family. Oh, shit.
104
00:05:00,258 --> 00:05:01,509
But they're not from the ghetto.
105
00:05:01,801 --> 00:05:03,720
This season, he introduces us to
106
00:05:03,761 --> 00:05:06,014
a wife who's a thumbs-up lawyer
107
00:05:06,055 --> 00:05:07,849
and a passel of loving children.
108
00:05:07,890 --> 00:05:10,018
His dignity remains unflappable.
109
00:05:10,685 --> 00:05:12,979
And for my people, these weren't just ads
110
00:05:13,021 --> 00:05:14,314
about a TV show.
111
00:05:14,355 --> 00:05:16,691
Nah, this was a calling.
112
00:05:16,733 --> 00:05:18,484
Everybody knew this show was happening,
113
00:05:18,526 --> 00:05:20,111
this show called The Cosby Show.
114
00:05:20,153 --> 00:05:21,654
It was a huge deal.
115
00:05:21,696 --> 00:05:23,865
It wasn't just gonna be
a Black person appearing.
116
00:05:23,906 --> 00:05:27,452
This was gonna be a whole show
with just Black people on it.
117
00:05:27,493 --> 00:05:29,871
Yo, a Black man has a television show
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about a Black family on NBC.
119
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It was the first show
that my mom and my dad
120
00:05:36,711 --> 00:05:39,213
and my aunt and my neighbors, everybody said,
121
00:05:39,255 --> 00:05:41,382
"- Yo, I-I'll talk to you later.
I got Bill Cosby coming on."
122
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There was just this understood directive
123
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in the Black community
124
00:05:45,178 --> 00:05:47,388
that we were going to support Bill Cosby.
125
00:05:47,430 --> 00:05:48,681
We were gonna watch The Cosby Show.
126
00:05:48,723 --> 00:05:50,892
It was supposed to be in our DNA.
127
00:05:50,933 --> 00:05:53,186
When I knew there was gonna be
The Cosby Show,
128
00:05:53,227 --> 00:05:55,063
I was anticipating it.
129
00:05:55,104 --> 00:05:58,733
I'll never forget waiting that
night for the pilot to air.
130
00:05:58,775 --> 00:06:00,943
Hey.
Hey, Dad.
131
00:06:00,985 --> 00:06:03,863
Hi, Daddy.
Hi, Daddy.
132
00:06:03,905 --> 00:06:06,824
Listen, let's put on some music round here.
133
00:06:09,369 --> 00:06:12,205
Something about this show
instantly felt different.
134
00:06:12,246 --> 00:06:17,710
135
00:06:17,752 --> 00:06:20,755
What people have always
referred to in the pilot
136
00:06:20,797 --> 00:06:22,507
was the moment with Theo.
137
00:06:22,548 --> 00:06:24,509
You're a doctor, and Mom's a lawyer.
138
00:06:24,550 --> 00:06:26,094
And you're both successful and everything,
139
00:06:26,135 --> 00:06:27,261
and that's great.
140
00:06:27,595 --> 00:06:30,181
But maybe I was born to be a regular person.
141
00:06:30,223 --> 00:06:32,016
And so...
142
00:06:32,475 --> 00:06:35,561
...instead of acting disappointed
143
00:06:35,603 --> 00:06:37,021
because I'm not like you...
144
00:06:38,940 --> 00:06:42,527
...maybe you can just accept
who I am and love me anyway...
145
00:06:43,653 --> 00:06:45,780
...because I'm your son.
146
00:06:48,950 --> 00:06:51,702
And, of course, the audience
that was conditioned
147
00:06:51,744 --> 00:06:54,997
to react this way went, "Aww."
148
00:06:55,039 --> 00:06:59,001
And then Bill, three beats,
look at him, going...
149
00:06:59,043 --> 00:07:02,213
That's the dumbest thing
I've ever heard in my life.
150
00:07:02,255 --> 00:07:05,675
Just in that moment, Bill pulled the rug
151
00:07:05,716 --> 00:07:07,927
on sitcoms and kind of
flipped them on their head.
152
00:07:07,969 --> 00:07:11,180
153
00:07:11,222 --> 00:07:13,057
And it's a hit instantly.
154
00:07:13,099 --> 00:07:15,601
155
00:07:15,643 --> 00:07:16,811
They got something on their hands
156
00:07:16,853 --> 00:07:18,438
that they couldn't have anticipated.
157
00:07:18,479 --> 00:07:20,314
Advertisers didn't anticipate it.
158
00:07:20,356 --> 00:07:21,732
No--execs didn't anticipate it.
159
00:07:21,774 --> 00:07:23,151
I mean, there was just no way to know
160
00:07:23,192 --> 00:07:25,736
how much America would fall
in love with this family
161
00:07:25,778 --> 00:07:27,864
and, really, this man.
162
00:07:29,866 --> 00:07:32,326
In 1984, I was 11.
163
00:07:32,368 --> 00:07:34,162
I was there week after week,
164
00:07:34,203 --> 00:07:35,746
keeping up with the Huxtables.
165
00:07:35,788 --> 00:07:37,832
And it didn't miss.
166
00:07:37,874 --> 00:07:39,917
There was always something...
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00:07:39,959 --> 00:07:43,087
Lamont was a good fish,
168
00:07:43,129 --> 00:07:45,256
happy and brave.
169
00:07:45,298 --> 00:07:48,134
...classic moments, catchphrases.
170
00:07:48,176 --> 00:07:49,635
Didn't you go down there to Baltimore
171
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and have big fun, Vanessa?
Tell me.
172
00:07:51,637 --> 00:07:54,432
If I say "big fun"...
Big fun.
173
00:07:54,474 --> 00:07:56,100
And you don't say, "Baltimore"...
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Baltimore.
175
00:07:57,310 --> 00:07:59,979
...then I know you and I are not the same.
176
00:08:00,021 --> 00:08:02,231
Everybody on that show was different,
177
00:08:02,273 --> 00:08:03,107
fun, and unique.
178
00:08:03,149 --> 00:08:04,817
What is this?
179
00:08:04,859 --> 00:08:06,027
If you were watching,
180
00:08:06,068 --> 00:08:07,445
there was somebody in that family
181
00:08:07,487 --> 00:08:08,946
you could identify with.
182
00:08:08,988 --> 00:08:10,615
We were the same age as one of his kids,
183
00:08:10,656 --> 00:08:12,617
be it Theo, Vanessa, Denise.
184
00:08:12,658 --> 00:08:14,452
Maybe some of us were Sondra.
185
00:08:14,494 --> 00:08:18,080
Theo is so charming.
Rudy is adorable.
186
00:08:18,122 --> 00:08:19,790
You're never cuter than when you're missing
187
00:08:19,832 --> 00:08:21,042
your front teeth.
188
00:08:21,083 --> 00:08:22,418
Maybe this is when I knew I was,
189
00:08:22,460 --> 00:08:24,003
like, very gay very early on
190
00:08:24,045 --> 00:08:27,215
was looking at Lisa Bonet and being like,
191
00:08:27,256 --> 00:08:28,841
"Huh, I feel things."
192
00:08:29,300 --> 00:08:31,052
There were so many
times you'd watch that show
193
00:08:31,093 --> 00:08:33,513
and you wanted your family
to be the Huxtables.
194
00:08:33,554 --> 00:08:34,555
Why don't we get along like that?
195
00:08:36,224 --> 00:08:37,975
I'd been on the show about a month,
196
00:08:38,017 --> 00:08:40,394
and, uh, we were at a rehearsal,
197
00:08:40,436 --> 00:08:42,230
and I had my notepad and pen.
198
00:08:42,271 --> 00:08:46,234
And we were watching Theo
and Rudy rehearse a scene.
199
00:08:46,275 --> 00:08:48,819
And I feel this elbow in my ribs.
200
00:08:48,861 --> 00:08:50,738
And I turn, and it's Bill Cosby.
201
00:08:50,780 --> 00:08:51,906
He's got a cappuccino in one hand
202
00:08:51,948 --> 00:08:53,199
and a cigar in the other.
203
00:08:53,241 --> 00:08:54,659
And he leaned over, and he goes,
204
00:08:54,700 --> 00:08:57,787
"Hey, man, if you were home right now,
205
00:08:57,828 --> 00:09:00,039
wouldn't you want to be
a part of that family?"
206
00:09:00,540 --> 00:09:03,251
And when he said that, it was like...
207
00:09:04,585 --> 00:09:07,255
Okay.
That is the key to television.
208
00:09:07,296 --> 00:09:09,257
Underrated
209
00:09:09,298 --> 00:09:11,050
If I had to pick one scene
210
00:09:11,092 --> 00:09:13,719
to demonstrate how good this show was,
211
00:09:13,761 --> 00:09:16,722
how much it meant to Black folks,
212
00:09:16,764 --> 00:09:19,475
there's only one clip I would choose.
213
00:09:19,517 --> 00:09:21,102
Some of you already know
what I'm talking about.
214
00:09:24,021 --> 00:09:29,277
215
00:09:33,114 --> 00:09:34,574
You know the nighttime, darling
216
00:09:34,615 --> 00:09:36,284
Night and day
217
00:09:36,325 --> 00:09:37,743
Is the right time
218
00:09:37,785 --> 00:09:39,203
Night and day
219
00:09:39,245 --> 00:09:41,872
To be
Night and day
220
00:09:41,914 --> 00:09:44,041
With the one you love, now
221
00:09:44,083 --> 00:09:45,793
I mean, this scene is just so good.
222
00:09:45,835 --> 00:09:47,795
Like, it's just--
223
00:09:47,837 --> 00:09:50,590
it captures what the spirit
224
00:09:50,631 --> 00:09:53,301
of the show is so well.
225
00:09:53,342 --> 00:09:54,719
Night and day
226
00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:55,970
You know what I'm thinking of
227
00:09:56,012 --> 00:09:57,305
Night and day
228
00:09:57,346 --> 00:09:58,973
This isn't good because of what
229
00:09:59,015 --> 00:10:00,975
they wrote down on the page.
230
00:10:01,017 --> 00:10:03,644
This is good because of what
the actors are doing
231
00:10:03,686 --> 00:10:05,062
on the stage.
232
00:10:05,104 --> 00:10:07,273
Even though Bill is a stand-up comic,
233
00:10:07,315 --> 00:10:09,984
he's sharing the spotlight with everybody.
234
00:10:10,026 --> 00:10:11,402
He's giving the best parts to Rudy.
235
00:10:11,444 --> 00:10:14,322
Baby
Night and day
236
00:10:14,363 --> 00:10:17,658
Baby
Night and day
237
00:10:17,700 --> 00:10:19,994
Baby
Night and day
238
00:10:20,036 --> 00:10:21,662
People don't understand what it takes
239
00:10:21,704 --> 00:10:23,664
to get a kid to do this.
240
00:10:23,706 --> 00:10:25,291
They have to be safe.
241
00:10:25,333 --> 00:10:27,376
Night and day
To be with the one...
242
00:10:27,418 --> 00:10:28,711
There's also something subtle
243
00:10:28,753 --> 00:10:30,004
going on here.
244
00:10:30,046 --> 00:10:32,340
This scene is for Black folks.
245
00:10:32,381 --> 00:10:33,966
You know how I know?
246
00:10:34,008 --> 00:10:36,552
They ain't performing for the TV audience.
247
00:10:36,594 --> 00:10:39,138
They're performing for them, the elders.
248
00:10:39,180 --> 00:10:42,224
This was Black love on full display.
249
00:10:42,266 --> 00:10:44,644
Oh, baby
250
00:10:44,685 --> 00:10:46,729
We hadn't seen a lot of that on TV before.
251
00:10:46,771 --> 00:10:50,566
I love how the older people
are, like, just enjoying it.
252
00:10:50,608 --> 00:10:52,610
Oh, keep me satisfied
253
00:10:52,652 --> 00:10:54,028
Night and day
254
00:10:54,070 --> 00:10:55,696
I know that nighttime
255
00:10:55,738 --> 00:10:57,031
Night and day
256
00:10:57,073 --> 00:10:58,699
Every day is the right time
257
00:10:58,741 --> 00:11:00,159
Night and day
258
00:11:00,201 --> 00:11:01,619
Hey, to be with the one you love, now
259
00:11:01,661 --> 00:11:03,120
Night and day
260
00:11:03,162 --> 00:11:05,206
Well, you know Night and day
261
00:11:05,247 --> 00:11:08,000
All right, yeah, yeah
262
00:11:08,042 --> 00:11:09,377
Wow.
263
00:11:13,881 --> 00:11:16,717
Well, one of the main things I think about
264
00:11:16,759 --> 00:11:18,511
when I see that clip is just,
265
00:11:18,552 --> 00:11:22,264
there are a million reasons we don't want
266
00:11:22,306 --> 00:11:25,685
what we know to be true
about Bill Cosby to be true.
267
00:11:25,726 --> 00:11:28,396
And I think that clip
highlights so many of them.
268
00:11:28,437 --> 00:11:32,358
It's just such a kind of bright and warm scene.
269
00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,070
I think many of us don't want to lose
270
00:11:36,112 --> 00:11:38,531
the way that those kinds
of scenes make us feel
271
00:11:38,572 --> 00:11:41,450
and what they meant for us
watching at the time.
272
00:11:41,492 --> 00:11:44,745
Uh, but the reality is--
you know,
273
00:11:44,787 --> 00:11:46,539
the reality is the reality.
274
00:11:54,630 --> 00:11:57,633
It was a Thursday, and
I'm walking up the sidewalk.
275
00:11:57,675 --> 00:12:01,095
And it's about ten minutes
before the show starts.
276
00:12:01,137 --> 00:12:03,848
And I hear this little girl
pulling--"Daddy, hurry.
277
00:12:03,889 --> 00:12:05,599
Come, come, the show's starting.
278
00:12:05,641 --> 00:12:06,934
Cosby's on."
279
00:12:06,976 --> 00:12:08,602
And she pulled him into a building.
280
00:12:08,644 --> 00:12:10,354
She was probably six.
281
00:12:10,396 --> 00:12:11,856
And I went,
282
00:12:11,897 --> 00:12:15,818
"Okay, this has an impact
that I wasn't even aware of."
283
00:12:17,987 --> 00:12:19,113
She was white.
284
00:12:19,155 --> 00:12:19,947
Yeah, she was a little white girl
285
00:12:19,989 --> 00:12:21,115
on the Upper West Side.
286
00:12:21,157 --> 00:12:23,284
The Cosby Show wasn't a Black show,
287
00:12:23,325 --> 00:12:24,952
but there things that made you feel Black,
288
00:12:24,994 --> 00:12:26,454
which was important.
289
00:12:26,495 --> 00:12:28,622
I have some very important reading to do here.
290
00:12:28,664 --> 00:12:31,000
Like when Clair would say certain things,
291
00:12:31,041 --> 00:12:32,293
like, when she would check people,
292
00:12:32,334 --> 00:12:33,461
she was like, "Oh, let me tell you something."
293
00:12:33,502 --> 00:12:34,670
You don't get it together
294
00:12:34,712 --> 00:12:35,963
and drop these macho attitudes,
295
00:12:36,005 --> 00:12:37,298
you are never gonna have
anybody bringing you
296
00:12:37,339 --> 00:12:40,259
anything anywhere anyplace anytime ever.
297
00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:42,553
That's a Black woman checking you.
298
00:12:42,970 --> 00:12:46,182
Cosby Show showed people, "Hey, look.
299
00:12:46,223 --> 00:12:48,934
Black families have money.
300
00:12:48,976 --> 00:12:50,770
Their kids are in school."
301
00:12:50,811 --> 00:12:53,439
It's not like, "I'ma tell you,
man, I'm working hard!
302
00:12:53,481 --> 00:12:55,357
I'm trying to get out
the ghetto, God damn it.
303
00:12:55,399 --> 00:12:56,942
Ah!"
304
00:12:56,984 --> 00:13:01,822
When you go inside the Huxtables' town house,
305
00:13:01,864 --> 00:13:03,824
it is, like the Huxtables themselves,
306
00:13:03,866 --> 00:13:06,327
this monument to Black excellence.
307
00:13:06,368 --> 00:13:10,164
It's artwork by Varnette P. Honeywood.
308
00:13:10,206 --> 00:13:12,458
You see Ellis Wilson's The Funeral Procession.
309
00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:13,834
And when you go into the kids' rooms,
310
00:13:13,876 --> 00:13:16,003
there are posters of Miles Davis
311
00:13:16,045 --> 00:13:17,463
and Wynton Marsalis.
312
00:13:17,505 --> 00:13:20,800
It is such an affirmation of Blackness
313
00:13:20,841 --> 00:13:23,010
without...
314
00:13:23,052 --> 00:13:25,304
sort of beating people over the head with it.
315
00:13:25,346 --> 00:13:29,308
They existed in this sort of Black utopia.
316
00:13:29,350 --> 00:13:32,144
Not only did The Cosby Show tremendously elevate
317
00:13:32,186 --> 00:13:35,356
the Black image on the set.
318
00:13:35,397 --> 00:13:38,692
Kamau, on that set, I saw
Black production assistants.
319
00:13:38,734 --> 00:13:42,196
I saw Black stage managers,
Black hair and makeup,
320
00:13:42,238 --> 00:13:44,073
Black writers, Black directors.
321
00:13:44,114 --> 00:13:45,574
I was like, "Wow."
322
00:13:45,616 --> 00:13:48,911
Your mother and I are rich.
323
00:13:48,953 --> 00:13:51,205
You have nothing.
324
00:13:51,247 --> 00:13:53,415
And yes, many critics pointed out
325
00:13:53,457 --> 00:13:55,376
that The Cosby Show was not representative
326
00:13:55,417 --> 00:13:57,753
of the average Black family.
327
00:13:57,795 --> 00:13:59,755
But who cares?
328
00:13:59,797 --> 00:14:02,132
We had seen lots of images
of the average Black family.
329
00:14:02,174 --> 00:14:04,134
Does it always gotta be Good Times?
330
00:14:04,176 --> 00:14:08,556
Damn, damn, damn!
331
00:14:08,597 --> 00:14:11,350
The Cosby Show wasn't really about money.
332
00:14:11,392 --> 00:14:13,185
It was actually a show about Black people
333
00:14:13,227 --> 00:14:15,187
not having to think about money.
334
00:14:15,229 --> 00:14:17,147
Party till you drop.-
335
00:14:17,189 --> 00:14:18,566
All right.-
336
00:14:18,607 --> 00:14:19,817
Black people just being allowed
337
00:14:19,859 --> 00:14:22,820
to live and thrive.
338
00:14:22,862 --> 00:14:26,490
My baby has been admitted at NYU, my baby!
339
00:14:26,532 --> 00:14:28,158
That's what we aspired to.
340
00:14:29,368 --> 00:14:31,328
That's the feeling we tuned in for.
341
00:14:31,370 --> 00:14:33,330
NBC, let's all...
342
00:14:33,372 --> 00:14:35,332
But the NBC executives,
343
00:14:35,374 --> 00:14:37,543
they loved The Cosby Show
for a different reason.
344
00:14:37,585 --> 00:14:39,962
Before The Cosby Show premiered,
345
00:14:40,004 --> 00:14:42,256
NBC was the number three network.
346
00:14:42,298 --> 00:14:43,549
They were in the toilet.
347
00:14:43,591 --> 00:14:47,386
Nobody knew how NBC was going to survive.
348
00:14:47,428 --> 00:14:51,557
The Cosby Show came along and saved NBC.
349
00:14:52,766 --> 00:14:53,767
We're hot.
350
00:14:53,809 --> 00:14:54,935
Before Friends,
351
00:14:54,977 --> 00:14:56,270
before Seinfeld
352
00:14:56,312 --> 00:14:58,939
was Bill Cosby single-handedly
353
00:14:58,981 --> 00:15:02,610
changing the face of NBC.
354
00:15:03,027 --> 00:15:04,778
The highest-rated episode
355
00:15:04,820 --> 00:15:08,282
of The Cosby Show drew in 65 million viewers...
356
00:15:08,324 --> 00:15:10,409
What's blowing up or on fire?
357
00:15:10,451 --> 00:15:12,036
...which, at the time,
358
00:15:12,077 --> 00:15:14,955
was a quarter of the U.S. population.
359
00:15:14,997 --> 00:15:17,625
For comparison's sake, in 2019,
360
00:15:17,666 --> 00:15:18,792
The Big Bang Theory,
361
00:15:18,834 --> 00:15:21,795
which was the highest-rated show of its time,
362
00:15:21,837 --> 00:15:23,547
brought in 25 million viewers.
363
00:15:31,013 --> 00:15:35,309
Cosby became a cultural icon, hero
364
00:15:35,351 --> 00:15:37,770
not only for Black people but for all people.
365
00:15:37,811 --> 00:15:40,564
366
00:15:40,606 --> 00:15:41,982
367
00:15:42,024 --> 00:15:43,651
When we turned on the TV,
368
00:15:43,692 --> 00:15:46,695
it was almost impossible not to see Bill Cosby.
369
00:15:46,737 --> 00:15:48,155
Open up an ice-cold Coke.
370
00:15:48,197 --> 00:15:51,158
Coke adds life, so have a Coke and a smile.
371
00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,954
Cosby became this figure that we could trust.
372
00:15:54,995 --> 00:15:58,207
Mom, you know how the kids love Jell-O pudding.
373
00:15:58,248 --> 00:16:00,417
He's a pitchman for Kodak film,
374
00:16:00,459 --> 00:16:03,629
Jell-O, Coke, um, everything.
375
00:16:03,671 --> 00:16:07,174
The Ford Motor Company's sneaky squeak test.
376
00:16:07,216 --> 00:16:10,344
All of these companies want to be associated
377
00:16:10,386 --> 00:16:12,429
with the Bill Cosby brand:
378
00:16:12,471 --> 00:16:15,182
wholesome, father, funny,
379
00:16:15,224 --> 00:16:16,767
all of those different things.
380
00:16:16,809 --> 00:16:19,520
And so dollars keep coming.
381
00:16:19,561 --> 00:16:21,313
The really big bucks are in show business.
382
00:16:21,355 --> 00:16:23,023
Bill Cosby's, the biggest,
383
00:16:23,065 --> 00:16:25,859
an estimated $57 million this year.
384
00:16:25,901 --> 00:16:28,195
It's clear that he is becoming America's father
385
00:16:28,237 --> 00:16:30,364
just as much as the character.
386
00:16:30,406 --> 00:16:31,782
He's this great dad.
387
00:16:31,824 --> 00:16:33,867
He's like a second father
388
00:16:33,909 --> 00:16:35,327
that's on television.
389
00:16:35,369 --> 00:16:38,998
He was someone to believe in
and someone to trust
390
00:16:39,039 --> 00:16:43,043
and someone to follow his advice.
391
00:16:43,085 --> 00:16:46,213
We all know Bill Cosby as America's dad.
392
00:16:46,255 --> 00:16:47,464
His new book is called,
393
00:16:47,506 --> 00:16:49,717
very simply, Fatherhood.
394
00:16:49,758 --> 00:16:53,220
At the same time, the cultural conversation
395
00:16:53,262 --> 00:16:56,390
is around Black men as absentee fathers.
396
00:16:56,432 --> 00:16:59,810
Bill Cosby is being called America's dad,
397
00:16:59,852 --> 00:17:02,062
not Black America's dad.
398
00:17:02,104 --> 00:17:04,565
He's being called America's dad.
399
00:17:04,606 --> 00:17:07,609
And I don't think it's
kind of overstating it.
400
00:17:07,651 --> 00:17:11,030
Cosby really, almost single-handedly,
401
00:17:11,071 --> 00:17:13,615
expands the vista of what people think
402
00:17:13,657 --> 00:17:15,743
Black people can be in American society.
403
00:17:24,334 --> 00:17:26,086
Who, Bill Cosby's?
Yeah.
404
00:17:26,962 --> 00:17:28,088
Oh, uh, Cliff Huxtable,
405
00:17:28,130 --> 00:17:30,007
uh, he was a pediatrician.
406
00:17:30,382 --> 00:17:32,551
That's right, he delivered babies.
407
00:17:32,593 --> 00:17:33,886
Oh!
408
00:17:33,927 --> 00:17:35,721
Oh, my God.
409
00:17:35,763 --> 00:17:37,181
Oh, my God.
410
00:17:41,268 --> 00:17:42,770
Was it in the house?
Was it in the town house?
411
00:17:48,776 --> 00:17:50,194
Oh.
412
00:17:51,487 --> 00:17:53,947
God.
413
00:17:53,989 --> 00:17:57,451
Bill Cosby controlled every
single aspect of that show.
414
00:17:57,493 --> 00:18:00,871
So I have no doubt in my mind that he chose
415
00:18:00,913 --> 00:18:04,583
what Dr. Huxtable's medical specialty would be.
416
00:18:04,625 --> 00:18:07,086
You could have been a dentist,
for crying out loud.
417
00:18:07,127 --> 00:18:08,754
But you weren't.
418
00:18:08,796 --> 00:18:10,589
You were an OBGYN.
419
00:18:10,631 --> 00:18:13,926
His character bringing women to his home
420
00:18:13,967 --> 00:18:16,178
where he's going to examine them.
421
00:18:17,012 --> 00:18:19,515
It's-it's-it's outrageous.
422
00:18:20,099 --> 00:18:22,976
Get outta here.
Yeah, see, I made you laugh.
423
00:18:23,393 --> 00:18:27,648
We've all seen an actor who plays a villain
424
00:18:27,689 --> 00:18:30,359
who is so good at playing a villain
425
00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:32,277
that you don't even like that actor anymore.
426
00:18:32,319 --> 00:18:33,821
On the opposite side of it,
427
00:18:33,862 --> 00:18:36,782
an actor who plays a hero,
you think that they are
428
00:18:36,824 --> 00:18:38,117
a really virtuous person
429
00:18:38,158 --> 00:18:40,577
on the basis of what
they've done on the screen.
430
00:18:40,619 --> 00:18:42,579
Cosby does that all the time.
431
00:18:42,621 --> 00:18:45,457
Probably to a greater extent than anyone
432
00:18:45,499 --> 00:18:48,335
in entertainment in my lifetime,
433
00:18:48,377 --> 00:18:52,089
Cosby had melded those two identities.
434
00:18:52,131 --> 00:18:54,842
It seemed like...
435
00:18:54,883 --> 00:18:59,429
Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable was Dr. Bill Cosby.
436
00:18:59,471 --> 00:19:03,100
And Lord knows they wore the same sweaters.
437
00:19:03,142 --> 00:19:04,226
We say, "Well, you know,
438
00:19:04,268 --> 00:19:06,103
he wasn't really Cliff Huxtable.
439
00:19:06,145 --> 00:19:07,729
Nobody's really Cliff Huxtable.
440
00:19:07,771 --> 00:19:10,023
And how can we hold him to that standard?"
441
00:19:10,065 --> 00:19:13,610
But that was the standard that
he told us to hold him to.
442
00:19:13,652 --> 00:19:15,070
Ever since my father passed away,
443
00:19:15,112 --> 00:19:17,197
when I see you on TV, you remind me of him.
444
00:19:17,239 --> 00:19:19,950
And I feel and admire for you
445
00:19:19,992 --> 00:19:22,035
what I did for him.
446
00:19:22,077 --> 00:19:23,745
And I just love you so much.
447
00:19:23,787 --> 00:19:25,706
That was what he wanted us to believe.
448
00:19:25,747 --> 00:19:27,249
He did that in...
449
00:19:27,291 --> 00:19:29,960
in clear ways through the television show
450
00:19:30,002 --> 00:19:32,588
by structuring it to look just like his family.
451
00:19:32,629 --> 00:19:33,672
Do you pull from homelife
452
00:19:33,714 --> 00:19:34,882
and bring it to the screen?
453
00:19:34,923 --> 00:19:37,301
I pull just about everything
454
00:19:37,342 --> 00:19:39,720
from something I've seen,
455
00:19:39,761 --> 00:19:43,056
lived, felt, heard, thought about.
456
00:19:43,932 --> 00:19:48,061
He parlayed our affection
457
00:19:48,103 --> 00:19:51,231
for these characters into affection for him.
458
00:19:51,273 --> 00:19:55,402
Being known as America's Dad
can really disarm someone
459
00:19:55,444 --> 00:19:58,739
from being tapped into and tuned into
460
00:19:58,780 --> 00:20:00,657
what their intuition is telling them
461
00:20:00,699 --> 00:20:03,577
because this brand is overriding.
462
00:20:03,619 --> 00:20:05,829
We trust someone without really taking the time
463
00:20:05,871 --> 00:20:07,915
that it requires to trust someone.
464
00:20:11,084 --> 00:20:13,712
And now welcome the star of the show.
465
00:20:13,754 --> 00:20:17,090
We would tape the show on Thursdays,
466
00:20:17,132 --> 00:20:19,760
once at four o'clock
and then once again at seven.
467
00:20:19,801 --> 00:20:22,095
You'd be standing on set.
468
00:20:22,137 --> 00:20:25,098
I think there's about 200
people, maybe, in the stands.
469
00:20:25,140 --> 00:20:26,725
You'd see all these faces
470
00:20:26,767 --> 00:20:28,227
and, you know, all these people.
471
00:20:28,268 --> 00:20:29,937
And everybody's dressed
a little bit differently.
472
00:20:29,978 --> 00:20:32,231
But then you'd get to this one pocket
473
00:20:32,272 --> 00:20:36,109
where there's about 20, 25 women
474
00:20:36,151 --> 00:20:38,445
dressed to the nines.
475
00:20:38,487 --> 00:20:39,905
They're all models.
476
00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:41,448
And they look it.
477
00:20:41,490 --> 00:20:44,368
It's like, "Wow, what in the
world is going on up there?"
478
00:20:44,826 --> 00:20:48,455
What we learned later, a modeling agency
479
00:20:48,497 --> 00:20:51,792
would bring these girls over, and they would
480
00:20:51,833 --> 00:20:54,044
talk to Mr.C.
481
00:20:54,086 --> 00:20:56,713
They would come and sit in the stands,
482
00:20:56,755 --> 00:20:57,881
be a row.
483
00:20:57,923 --> 00:20:59,925
And...
484
00:20:59,967 --> 00:21:01,551
then there would be a parade of them,
485
00:21:01,593 --> 00:21:03,136
go into his dressing room.
486
00:21:03,178 --> 00:21:06,139
But there was always a long
line of beautiful women,
487
00:21:06,181 --> 00:21:07,724
all different shades.
488
00:21:07,766 --> 00:21:09,977
I mean, the whole gamut, the whole rainbow
489
00:21:10,018 --> 00:21:11,603
of the human race.
490
00:21:11,645 --> 00:21:13,313
Yeah, they were lined up
outside of his dressing room,
491
00:21:13,355 --> 00:21:15,482
poor things, going in and out.
492
00:21:15,524 --> 00:21:18,485
And I guess they would read,
or I don't know what went on.
493
00:21:18,527 --> 00:21:20,696
And then they would go out.
494
00:21:20,737 --> 00:21:23,532
It was just kind of like the air, you know?
495
00:21:23,573 --> 00:21:26,660
It was there.
And everybody knew it.
496
00:21:26,702 --> 00:21:29,121
His dressing room was always open.
497
00:21:30,747 --> 00:21:32,332
Not then.
498
00:21:32,374 --> 00:21:35,794
I don't know what kind of advice
499
00:21:35,836 --> 00:21:39,006
you would probably have,
to be offering mentorship
500
00:21:39,047 --> 00:21:40,674
with a group of models.
501
00:21:40,716 --> 00:21:42,634
But I mean, what do I know?
502
00:21:50,434 --> 00:21:51,685
Not really.
503
00:21:51,727 --> 00:21:56,064
It was-it was just write, sleep,
504
00:21:56,106 --> 00:21:57,524
eat occasionally, write.
505
00:21:57,566 --> 00:21:59,609
I guess there were attractive women around,
506
00:21:59,651 --> 00:22:01,611
but it was a television studio,
507
00:22:01,653 --> 00:22:03,363
and guests would drop in,
508
00:22:03,405 --> 00:22:05,657
and Dizzy Gillespie would drop in.
509
00:22:05,699 --> 00:22:07,701
And there was always kind of a party going on
510
00:22:07,743 --> 00:22:09,494
in the dressing room,
but the writers were upstairs
511
00:22:09,536 --> 00:22:10,871
rewriting the script.
512
00:22:10,912 --> 00:22:13,540
So I don't have any, uh, understanding
513
00:22:13,582 --> 00:22:14,875
of what happened there.
514
00:22:21,882 --> 00:22:23,133
Never.
515
00:22:23,175 --> 00:22:25,552
Never.
I never met her.
516
00:22:25,594 --> 00:22:27,721
I never met Camille.
517
00:22:27,763 --> 00:22:29,598
I never met any of his family.
518
00:22:29,639 --> 00:22:31,224
I only saw her once.
519
00:22:31,266 --> 00:22:34,561
I may have met Camille once
in passing at the studio.
520
00:22:34,603 --> 00:22:35,896
She was like a ghost.
521
00:22:36,646 --> 00:22:38,065
She didn't exist.
522
00:22:38,106 --> 00:22:40,692
I'm pretty sure I heard about Bill Cosby
523
00:22:40,734 --> 00:22:42,527
being unfaithful first,
524
00:22:42,569 --> 00:22:44,905
long before I heard about,
525
00:22:44,946 --> 00:22:48,075
uh, any allegations of sexual assault.
526
00:22:48,116 --> 00:22:50,702
There was this rumor
527
00:22:50,744 --> 00:22:54,414
that Bill Cosby was not faithful to his wife,
528
00:22:54,456 --> 00:22:56,083
which was stunning.
529
00:22:57,876 --> 00:23:00,420
Even though, on The Cosby Show,
530
00:23:00,462 --> 00:23:03,090
his wife was Clair Huxtable,
531
00:23:03,131 --> 00:23:05,258
we imagined that he was projecting
532
00:23:05,300 --> 00:23:06,510
what his real life was like.
533
00:23:06,551 --> 00:23:08,178
So his marriage is really this good,
534
00:23:08,220 --> 00:23:10,597
and it's attentive, and they
really care about each other.
535
00:23:10,639 --> 00:23:13,934
You know, the glowing magazine
of photo spreads
536
00:23:13,975 --> 00:23:17,354
of him and his beautiful Black wife, Camille,
537
00:23:17,396 --> 00:23:20,190
beautiful pictures of
the real-life Cosby family,
538
00:23:20,232 --> 00:23:22,609
which is how they were often presented,
539
00:23:22,651 --> 00:23:24,778
his actual children and his actual wife.
540
00:23:26,154 --> 00:23:28,198
We had, for decades, accepted the fact
541
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,159
that Bill Cosby had the perfect marriage.
542
00:23:31,201 --> 00:23:35,622
To hear that Bill Cosby was
not faithful, um, to his wife,
543
00:23:35,664 --> 00:23:36,957
that would be like us hearing now
544
00:23:36,998 --> 00:23:38,125
that Barack cheated on Michelle.
545
00:23:38,166 --> 00:23:39,501
Like, that's what it would be like.
546
00:23:39,543 --> 00:23:42,129
We're talking about how lucky
you are to have Camille,
547
00:23:42,170 --> 00:23:43,964
'cause I think she's the perfect woman.
548
00:23:44,005 --> 00:23:47,843
In terms of Camille, I am very, very lucky.
549
00:23:47,884 --> 00:23:51,930
Therefore, I don't need any more luck in life
550
00:23:51,972 --> 00:23:55,225
because Camille is my full share.
551
00:24:08,864 --> 00:24:09,990
Right.
552
00:24:12,701 --> 00:24:13,827
Right, Right.
553
00:24:13,869 --> 00:24:16,413
Yeah, I heard-I heard, yes.
554
00:24:16,455 --> 00:24:17,789
You know...
...it's interesting you use
555
00:24:17,831 --> 00:24:19,749
the term "notorious philanderer"
556
00:24:19,791 --> 00:24:21,334
'cause it's like, that's exactly what I heard.
557
00:24:23,128 --> 00:24:25,505
It's like, not only are people
have the same information.
558
00:24:25,547 --> 00:24:27,799
They have the same vernacular, like.
559
00:24:27,841 --> 00:24:29,676
"He's a notorious philanderer."
560
00:24:29,718 --> 00:24:31,011
I heard, though, that, yes.
561
00:24:31,052 --> 00:24:33,346
And I think a lot of people heard that.
562
00:24:33,388 --> 00:24:35,640
I only heard about him
just fucking with other women.
563
00:24:35,682 --> 00:24:37,350
I didn't put a judgment on him,
564
00:24:37,392 --> 00:24:38,894
'cause I was doing that shit.
565
00:24:38,935 --> 00:24:41,229
I ain't no loyal motherfucker.
I was-I was like,
566
00:24:41,271 --> 00:24:43,315
"What's wrong with getting
some extra pussy? Shit.
567
00:24:43,356 --> 00:24:45,650
You know, yeah,
That's normal, motherfucker."
568
00:24:48,069 --> 00:24:49,154
They're not.
569
00:24:51,072 --> 00:24:52,199
Exactly.
570
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,660
Infidelity is between the partners.
571
00:24:55,702 --> 00:24:59,164
Assault is-is a heinous crime.
572
00:25:10,675 --> 00:25:12,135
And would you like me to play this, Kamau?
573
00:25:12,177 --> 00:25:13,178
Like, play this in front--
Yes, please.
574
00:25:13,220 --> 00:25:14,638
Yes, please.
Okay.
575
00:25:16,264 --> 00:25:19,226
Now, I'm telling you, you are going to try
576
00:25:19,267 --> 00:25:21,353
as hard as you can.
577
00:25:21,394 --> 00:25:24,648
And you're gonna do it because I said so.
578
00:25:24,689 --> 00:25:26,358
I am your father.
579
00:25:26,399 --> 00:25:28,860
I brought you in this world,
and I'll take you out.
580
00:25:37,452 --> 00:25:39,246
I remember that episode.
581
00:25:39,287 --> 00:25:40,997
And I find it to be--
582
00:25:43,458 --> 00:25:45,794
He loved his kids so much. I--
583
00:25:47,003 --> 00:25:49,756
One wants to have that.
584
00:26:01,226 --> 00:26:03,812
And I haven't watched The Cosby Show, uh,
585
00:26:03,853 --> 00:26:06,648
since everything happened.
586
00:26:07,524 --> 00:26:11,194
587
00:26:11,236 --> 00:26:14,406
I didn't have a lot of parental engagement
588
00:26:14,447 --> 00:26:15,574
as a child.
589
00:26:15,615 --> 00:26:17,450
My biological father died,
590
00:26:17,492 --> 00:26:20,954
my stepfather, uh, stepped in at a young age,
591
00:26:20,996 --> 00:26:23,707
but there was, uh, an emotional removal.
592
00:26:23,748 --> 00:26:24,624
I love you.
593
00:26:24,666 --> 00:26:26,126
Yeah, Dad.
Huh?
594
00:26:26,167 --> 00:26:27,294
I know.
Yeah.
595
00:26:27,335 --> 00:26:30,630
Bill was, like, it, it, it.
596
00:26:30,672 --> 00:26:32,299
It didn't matter what color you were.
597
00:26:32,340 --> 00:26:33,800
That's the dad you wanted.
598
00:26:33,842 --> 00:26:36,928
And that's true today.
Today.
599
00:26:36,970 --> 00:26:39,556
If you want a dad, you want Dr. Huxtable.
600
00:26:39,598 --> 00:26:41,057
And every--that's it.
601
00:26:42,851 --> 00:26:45,312
I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
602
00:26:45,353 --> 00:26:48,648
At that time, I was called mulatto a lot.
603
00:26:48,690 --> 00:26:51,693
It's just a strange thing,
being mixed or "biracial"
604
00:26:51,735 --> 00:26:52,986
or "triracial."
605
00:26:53,028 --> 00:26:56,531
Uh, you had--
you were on your own.
606
00:26:56,573 --> 00:26:59,159
On your own.
607
00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:00,660
Modeling saved me
608
00:27:00,702 --> 00:27:01,953
because in the modeling world,
609
00:27:01,995 --> 00:27:03,997
I was called exotic.
610
00:27:04,497 --> 00:27:06,458
That's what they wanted on the runways
611
00:27:06,499 --> 00:27:08,543
in the '80s and '90s.
612
00:27:08,585 --> 00:27:11,296
613
00:27:11,338 --> 00:27:16,009
614
00:27:16,051 --> 00:27:18,470
This would have been 1989.
615
00:27:18,511 --> 00:27:20,221
When I landed in New York,
616
00:27:20,263 --> 00:27:24,517
I actually got a hybrid
modeling and acting agent.
617
00:27:24,559 --> 00:27:26,019
And one day, she called me up,
618
00:27:26,061 --> 00:27:28,313
and she said, "I'm going out
to The Cosby Show
619
00:27:28,355 --> 00:27:29,439
to watch a taping."
620
00:27:30,398 --> 00:27:31,816
And that's what we did.
621
00:27:31,858 --> 00:27:33,818
And at the end of that taping,
622
00:27:33,860 --> 00:27:35,195
she introduces us.
623
00:27:35,236 --> 00:27:36,821
I say, "It was very nice to meet you, Bill.
624
00:27:36,863 --> 00:27:38,323
Great show,"
625
00:27:38,365 --> 00:27:39,532
uh, and I walked out.
626
00:27:39,574 --> 00:27:41,076
It was just that simple.
627
00:27:42,744 --> 00:27:43,870
But the following morning,
628
00:27:43,912 --> 00:27:46,206
get a phone call from my agent.
629
00:27:46,623 --> 00:27:49,376
"You just got a part in The Cosby Show.
630
00:27:49,417 --> 00:27:53,380
He wants you next week on the show,
631
00:27:53,421 --> 00:27:54,339
to play a cop."
632
00:27:54,381 --> 00:27:58,218
633
00:27:58,259 --> 00:28:00,387
Now, don't get me--
now, don't get me wrong.
634
00:28:00,428 --> 00:28:02,013
Listen.
635
00:28:02,055 --> 00:28:05,141
Women can play cops, but
dress blues cops, you know,
636
00:28:05,183 --> 00:28:07,018
walking the beat in New York,
637
00:28:07,060 --> 00:28:10,021
at 22 and six feet tall,
it just seemed a little odd.
638
00:28:12,357 --> 00:28:13,441
Excuse me.
639
00:28:13,483 --> 00:28:14,609
Yes?
640
00:28:14,651 --> 00:28:16,611
Are you, uh, Jade Marsh?
641
00:28:16,653 --> 00:28:18,154
Well, yes.
642
00:28:18,196 --> 00:28:19,364
This was my first television role.
643
00:28:19,406 --> 00:28:22,992
I had three lines or something like that.
644
00:28:23,034 --> 00:28:25,537
I have my own dressing room.
645
00:28:25,578 --> 00:28:27,414
I didn't have a dressing room
646
00:28:27,455 --> 00:28:28,873
on The Cosby Show.
647
00:28:28,915 --> 00:28:32,419
When Jeff and I were
on the show at the same time,
648
00:28:32,460 --> 00:28:34,087
we normally shared.
649
00:28:34,129 --> 00:28:36,256
One week, we come in.
650
00:28:36,297 --> 00:28:37,716
I kid you not.
651
00:28:37,757 --> 00:28:39,384
We are in a closet.
652
00:28:39,426 --> 00:28:42,887
They put us in a storage closet.
653
00:28:42,929 --> 00:28:45,598
Now, why would a girl that's playing a cop
654
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:47,058
have her own dressing room?
655
00:28:47,100 --> 00:28:49,894
That, I-I knew enough to know
that this is all--
656
00:28:49,936 --> 00:28:51,688
now it's getting really strange.
657
00:28:51,730 --> 00:28:54,441
And I'm uncomfortable right away.
658
00:28:54,482 --> 00:28:57,026
I'm really uncomfortable right away.
659
00:28:57,068 --> 00:28:59,195
Are you aware that that watch
was reported stolen
660
00:28:59,237 --> 00:29:00,321
two days ago?
661
00:29:00,363 --> 00:29:02,282
We're in the midst of rehearsal,
662
00:29:02,323 --> 00:29:05,118
and all of a sudden, this man
comes right onto the set.
663
00:29:05,827 --> 00:29:07,370
This older man.
664
00:29:07,412 --> 00:29:11,124
Looks like Burgess Meredith,
uh, Rocky's, uh, trainer.
665
00:29:11,166 --> 00:29:14,419
I come to find out is named, uh, Scotti.
666
00:29:14,461 --> 00:29:18,506
Frank Scotti was one of those assistants
667
00:29:18,548 --> 00:29:20,383
but probably the main one.
668
00:29:20,425 --> 00:29:22,719
He came right up to me, and he said, uh,
669
00:29:22,761 --> 00:29:25,513
"Bill would like you to have
lunch in his dressing room."
670
00:29:25,555 --> 00:29:27,390
He has my arm.
671
00:29:27,432 --> 00:29:29,934
And it's not a strong hold.
I don't mean that.
672
00:29:29,976 --> 00:29:32,353
I just mean he's actually escorting me off.
673
00:29:32,395 --> 00:29:34,063
If somebody came onto the set right now
674
00:29:34,105 --> 00:29:36,816
and took me off set, you, Kamau, would say,
675
00:29:36,858 --> 00:29:38,526
"Uh, I need her."
676
00:29:39,694 --> 00:29:42,822
Nobody said, "We need her."
677
00:29:42,864 --> 00:29:44,157
So I'm sitting down,
678
00:29:44,199 --> 00:29:46,659
and I'm eating my Chinese chicken salad,
679
00:29:46,701 --> 00:29:48,495
and Bill never comes in.
680
00:29:50,038 --> 00:29:51,414
So that was the first day.
681
00:29:51,456 --> 00:29:54,501
Preposterous, this was
a gift from my boyfriend.
682
00:29:54,542 --> 00:29:55,752
Well, could you take it off so we can check
683
00:29:55,794 --> 00:29:56,669
the serial number?
684
00:29:56,711 --> 00:29:58,171
Never.
685
00:29:58,213 --> 00:29:59,422
The second day, we're rehearsing,
686
00:29:59,464 --> 00:30:00,799
and Scotti comes.
687
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,677
And this time, I say, um,
I will not leave the set.
688
00:30:04,719 --> 00:30:06,346
And I talked to two people.
689
00:30:06,387 --> 00:30:09,432
And I said, "I don't want to leave the set."
690
00:30:09,474 --> 00:30:12,060
And they said, "Just go.
691
00:30:12,101 --> 00:30:15,313
This happens all the time.
Just go."
692
00:30:15,814 --> 00:30:17,398
Look, if we don't see the serial number,
693
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:18,525
we're gonna have to take you in
694
00:30:18,566 --> 00:30:20,401
for possession of stolen property.
695
00:30:20,443 --> 00:30:22,529
On Thursday, I go into the dressing room,
696
00:30:22,570 --> 00:30:26,533
and I'm sitting down, thinking
that no Bill is gonna show up.
697
00:30:26,574 --> 00:30:29,202
And right after, I don't know,
two, three bites,
698
00:30:29,244 --> 00:30:31,037
Bill finally comes in.
699
00:30:31,079 --> 00:30:32,872
He comes in the door
700
00:30:32,914 --> 00:30:35,750
and closes the door,
which has always stayed open
701
00:30:35,792 --> 00:30:37,544
those-those three days.
702
00:30:37,585 --> 00:30:38,711
And he locks it.
703
00:30:38,753 --> 00:30:40,255
Is this it?
704
00:30:40,296 --> 00:30:41,881
Like, is this when somebody's
actually gonna try
705
00:30:41,923 --> 00:30:43,383
to fuck with you?
706
00:30:43,424 --> 00:30:46,636
And he just said, really pointedly,
707
00:30:46,678 --> 00:30:48,096
"Eden...
708
00:30:49,973 --> 00:30:51,224
...you know that you...
709
00:30:52,433 --> 00:30:54,727
...could have anything you wanted, right?
710
00:30:54,769 --> 00:30:56,729
You do understand who I am?"
711
00:30:56,771 --> 00:30:58,731
And I said, "Bill...
712
00:30:59,691 --> 00:31:01,901
...you are
713
00:31:01,943 --> 00:31:03,695
Fat Albert
714
00:31:03,736 --> 00:31:05,154
and the Cosby Kids.
715
00:31:05,196 --> 00:31:07,407
And you're Jell-O Pudding Pops to me."
716
00:31:07,448 --> 00:31:11,995
Bill Cosby, the one that you,
Kamau, and I know,
717
00:31:12,036 --> 00:31:14,080
went from someone that I knew
718
00:31:14,122 --> 00:31:16,249
to someone that I had never, ever seen before.
719
00:31:16,291 --> 00:31:18,626
And he said, "Don't say that to me.
720
00:31:18,668 --> 00:31:20,128
They all say that to me."
721
00:31:20,169 --> 00:31:23,548
Then at this point, he says, "Stand up."
722
00:31:23,590 --> 00:31:25,300
And he tells me to turn around.
723
00:31:25,341 --> 00:31:27,093
He came up right to me,
724
00:31:27,135 --> 00:31:28,761
and he said, "Put your arms out."
725
00:31:28,803 --> 00:31:31,806
I put my arms out, and he put
his hands on my hands.
726
00:31:31,848 --> 00:31:34,893
And we did what is this classic,
727
00:31:34,934 --> 00:31:37,437
you know, exercise
that happens in acting classes
728
00:31:37,478 --> 00:31:39,564
where we--you mirror somebody.
729
00:31:39,606 --> 00:31:40,607
But he's behind me.
730
00:31:40,648 --> 00:31:43,943
And it's very oppressive.
731
00:31:43,985 --> 00:31:45,570
And it feels...
732
00:31:47,989 --> 00:31:49,782
...it feels sexual.
733
00:31:49,824 --> 00:31:51,534
We do an exercise.
734
00:31:51,576 --> 00:31:53,661
It feels like it goes on
for ten minutes; it doesn't.
735
00:31:53,703 --> 00:31:55,538
I imagine it goes on for less than a minute.
736
00:31:55,580 --> 00:31:58,625
And he wraps me in his arms,
and he pulls me in.
737
00:31:58,666 --> 00:32:01,294
He said, "See?
738
00:32:01,336 --> 00:32:03,129
This is all we were gonna do.
739
00:32:03,171 --> 00:32:05,715
Make love.
This is making love."
740
00:32:07,592 --> 00:32:09,928
And then finally he releases me,
741
00:32:09,969 --> 00:32:12,263
and, um...
742
00:32:12,305 --> 00:32:14,307
and he says, "You can go now."
743
00:32:16,809 --> 00:32:19,437
I don't believe that's
the first time that happened.
744
00:32:19,479 --> 00:32:21,314
I don't believe that the people on that set
745
00:32:21,356 --> 00:32:22,982
didn't know what was happening.
746
00:32:23,024 --> 00:32:25,151
And I will say that right here.
747
00:32:25,193 --> 00:32:27,028
And please,
748
00:32:27,070 --> 00:32:29,280
please do not edit this.
749
00:32:29,322 --> 00:32:31,991
A lot of people knew.
750
00:32:32,033 --> 00:32:34,494
Because you can't do what he did
751
00:32:34,535 --> 00:32:38,623
unless you have other people
supporting what you're doing.
752
00:32:40,375 --> 00:32:41,668
I would love to ask some people
753
00:32:41,709 --> 00:32:43,461
that I used to work with there,
754
00:32:43,503 --> 00:32:46,172
like, "What in the world did
you think was going on?
755
00:32:46,214 --> 00:32:48,174
You did wonder.
You had to."
756
00:32:48,216 --> 00:32:51,052
Frank Scotti had all the answers.
757
00:32:51,094 --> 00:32:54,722
Frank is the one that took care of Bill.
758
00:32:56,683 --> 00:32:58,184
Frank enabled something terrible
759
00:32:58,226 --> 00:33:01,270
for a long time.
760
00:33:01,312 --> 00:33:05,024
So why do bystanders like Scotti not speak out?
761
00:33:05,066 --> 00:33:06,526
Because there's a power dynamic.
762
00:33:06,567 --> 00:33:08,027
People have jobs.
763
00:33:08,069 --> 00:33:09,529
They need to eat.
764
00:33:09,570 --> 00:33:11,114
They need to pay their bills.
765
00:33:11,155 --> 00:33:12,323
I mean, it's been 30 years
766
00:33:12,365 --> 00:33:13,533
since The Cosby Show has been on TV,
767
00:33:13,574 --> 00:33:16,160
but Bill Cosby was, like, the number one
768
00:33:16,202 --> 00:33:18,871
most powerful man
769
00:33:18,913 --> 00:33:21,666
in the entertainment industry back then.
770
00:33:21,708 --> 00:33:24,460
He had, like, $400 million under his belt.
771
00:33:24,502 --> 00:33:26,379
He had power.
He wielded power.
772
00:33:26,421 --> 00:33:28,339
And so you're gonna speak against him?
773
00:33:28,381 --> 00:33:29,465
And who's gonna believe you?
774
00:33:29,507 --> 00:33:30,758
Bill Cosby is not even as famous
775
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:32,719
as he was back then, and look at the--
776
00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:33,720
look at the scrutiny.
777
00:33:33,761 --> 00:33:35,013
Look at the blaming and shaming
778
00:33:35,054 --> 00:33:36,514
that we're having to endure.
779
00:33:36,556 --> 00:33:39,100
780
00:33:39,142 --> 00:33:40,601
Lili's right.
781
00:33:40,643 --> 00:33:42,437
Bill Cosby was a powerful man
782
00:33:42,478 --> 00:33:44,230
in the entertainment industry.
783
00:33:44,272 --> 00:33:48,067
And even more complicated,
he was a powerful Black man
784
00:33:48,109 --> 00:33:50,069
in the entertainment industry.
785
00:33:50,111 --> 00:33:53,114
And he used the power and
the money that came with it
786
00:33:53,156 --> 00:33:56,617
to directly make the lives
of Black people better.
787
00:33:56,659 --> 00:33:59,162
You give it away.
788
00:33:59,203 --> 00:34:03,708
You give it away in big, big numbers.
789
00:34:03,750 --> 00:34:07,754
Cosby donated $20 million
790
00:34:07,795 --> 00:34:09,088
to Spelman College,
791
00:34:09,130 --> 00:34:11,758
the largest single award
792
00:34:11,799 --> 00:34:14,010
of philanthropy
793
00:34:14,052 --> 00:34:17,597
that any historically Black
institution had ever received.
794
00:34:18,014 --> 00:34:19,891
When Bill Cosby drops money
795
00:34:19,932 --> 00:34:21,392
at a place like Spelman,
796
00:34:21,434 --> 00:34:23,603
he's not just putting his name on a building.
797
00:34:23,644 --> 00:34:25,813
He's helping to advance a tradition.
798
00:34:27,565 --> 00:34:30,943
Bill Cosby did as much for HBCUs
799
00:34:30,985 --> 00:34:33,362
in the '90s
800
00:34:33,404 --> 00:34:36,991
as maybe any person in American history
801
00:34:37,033 --> 00:34:39,994
through his donations,
802
00:34:40,036 --> 00:34:42,080
through his advocacy,
803
00:34:42,121 --> 00:34:45,666
and through the representation
on A Different World.
804
00:34:46,459 --> 00:34:47,627
I'm going to Hillman.
805
00:34:49,337 --> 00:34:51,839
twangy guitar music
806
00:34:51,881 --> 00:34:53,424
It's a different world
807
00:34:53,466 --> 00:34:54,759
In its first season,
808
00:34:54,801 --> 00:34:56,677
A Different World was about Denise Huxtable
809
00:34:56,719 --> 00:34:59,013
as she adjusted to life at the fictional HBCU
810
00:34:59,055 --> 00:35:00,348
Hillman College.
811
00:35:00,973 --> 00:35:02,475
There is a God.
812
00:35:02,517 --> 00:35:04,102
But thanks to showrunner Debbie Allen,
813
00:35:04,143 --> 00:35:05,603
this show became much more
814
00:35:05,645 --> 00:35:07,522
than just a Cosby Show spin-off.
815
00:35:07,563 --> 00:35:09,315
The Cosby Show was a show
with Black people on it.
816
00:35:09,357 --> 00:35:11,609
A Different World was a Black show.
817
00:35:11,651 --> 00:35:13,945
They were attempting to resonate with youth.
818
00:35:13,986 --> 00:35:16,155
They were attempting
to resonate with pop culture.
819
00:35:16,197 --> 00:35:19,450
And they were deeply, deeply
centered in Black culture.
820
00:35:19,492 --> 00:35:23,079
I'm a voice in this world,
and I deserve to be heard.
821
00:35:23,121 --> 00:35:24,997
I'm a voice in this world,
822
00:35:25,039 --> 00:35:26,749
and I deserve to be heard.
823
00:35:26,791 --> 00:35:28,835
From the mountaintops!
824
00:35:28,876 --> 00:35:31,337
I think A Different World is the best show
825
00:35:31,379 --> 00:35:32,922
for-for Black people ever.
826
00:35:34,799 --> 00:35:36,467
Even more than The Cosby Show.
827
00:35:36,509 --> 00:35:38,803
It made getting an education seem cool.
828
00:35:38,845 --> 00:35:40,596
Seventeen to two...
829
00:35:40,638 --> 00:35:43,683
People look at Cosby as these two figures,
830
00:35:43,724 --> 00:35:46,853
um, one of whom is this humanitarian
831
00:35:46,894 --> 00:35:49,856
and the other of whom is this predator.
832
00:35:49,897 --> 00:35:53,192
But I'm not sure that we can distinguish them
833
00:35:53,234 --> 00:35:54,527
in that way.
834
00:35:54,569 --> 00:35:56,362
He would dangle the promise
835
00:35:56,404 --> 00:35:58,698
of money to many institutions,
836
00:35:58,739 --> 00:36:00,158
places like Temple in particular.
837
00:36:00,199 --> 00:36:01,742
So every year,
838
00:36:01,784 --> 00:36:03,035
they'd be hoping to get
$10 million or $20 million
839
00:36:03,077 --> 00:36:04,620
from Bill Cosby.
840
00:36:04,662 --> 00:36:06,330
And that's why he's the board of trustees.
841
00:36:06,372 --> 00:36:08,624
And that's why many of his misdeeds
842
00:36:08,666 --> 00:36:10,251
were covered up or ignored.
843
00:36:10,668 --> 00:36:13,588
He gave millions of dollars to a college--
844
00:36:13,629 --> 00:36:17,216
not just any college, a college for Black women.
845
00:36:17,258 --> 00:36:19,135
Maybe this is just coincidental,
846
00:36:19,177 --> 00:36:20,887
but I doubt it.
847
00:36:20,928 --> 00:36:22,388
So people have tended to see it as kind of
848
00:36:22,430 --> 00:36:24,223
Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde.
849
00:36:24,265 --> 00:36:26,184
And I think that you can make
a compelling argument
850
00:36:26,225 --> 00:36:27,560
that it's all Mr. Hyde.
851
00:36:33,024 --> 00:36:35,735
852
00:36:35,776 --> 00:36:39,864
853
00:36:39,906 --> 00:36:42,742
We would shoot The Cosby Show Thursday.
854
00:36:42,783 --> 00:36:44,535
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,
855
00:36:44,577 --> 00:36:46,078
Bill went off and did his stand-up.
856
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:47,622
He'd go to Tahoe or Vegas.
857
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:51,667
So we're talking about Las Vegas, '88.
858
00:36:52,335 --> 00:36:55,129
I was 23 years old.
859
00:36:55,171 --> 00:36:57,089
Lot of people I would run into
860
00:36:57,131 --> 00:36:59,550
or different situations said,
"Oh, are you a model?"
861
00:36:59,592 --> 00:37:02,136
I went down to a modeling agency,
862
00:37:02,178 --> 00:37:04,305
you know, got some photos done.
863
00:37:04,347 --> 00:37:06,974
And before you know it, I was modeling.
864
00:37:07,016 --> 00:37:10,728
It was supplementing my income for education.
865
00:37:10,770 --> 00:37:12,772
Ultimately, everything that I did
866
00:37:12,813 --> 00:37:14,815
was so that I could go to school.
867
00:37:16,692 --> 00:37:19,654
How I met him is getting
the call from my agent,
868
00:37:19,695 --> 00:37:21,989
saying, "Hey, Bill Cosby wants to see you.
869
00:37:22,031 --> 00:37:24,283
He's at the Elvis Suite at the Hilton."
870
00:37:26,285 --> 00:37:28,955
A lot of people don't realize,
you know, back then,
871
00:37:28,996 --> 00:37:32,416
everybody comes to Vegas,
they stay in a hotel,
872
00:37:32,458 --> 00:37:35,127
and you cast from your hotel room.
873
00:37:35,169 --> 00:37:37,088
Your legitimate agency
874
00:37:37,129 --> 00:37:39,632
is sending you on a call.
875
00:37:40,049 --> 00:37:41,634
One of the first things I remember
876
00:37:41,676 --> 00:37:43,469
when I first walked through the door
877
00:37:43,511 --> 00:37:45,554
was a big round table.
878
00:37:45,596 --> 00:37:47,890
And on the table were all these headshots
879
00:37:47,932 --> 00:37:50,977
of models that worked in Las Vegas.
880
00:37:51,018 --> 00:37:52,228
I was like, "Oh, okay."
881
00:37:52,270 --> 00:37:53,479
And I thought, "Wow, he's serious.
882
00:37:53,521 --> 00:37:55,398
He's really looking for somebody."
883
00:37:55,439 --> 00:37:57,942
He just spent probably, you know,
884
00:37:57,984 --> 00:38:00,194
just a short period of time
just talking to me
885
00:38:00,236 --> 00:38:02,571
and asking me about myself
886
00:38:02,613 --> 00:38:04,657
and what I do and what I was interested,
887
00:38:04,699 --> 00:38:06,284
what my long-term goals were.
888
00:38:06,325 --> 00:38:08,411
As much as I don't want to, you know,
889
00:38:08,452 --> 00:38:10,162
say that it was a nice meeting,
890
00:38:10,204 --> 00:38:11,622
it-it was a great meeting.
891
00:38:11,664 --> 00:38:14,750
And I left thinking, "Wow, you know,
892
00:38:14,792 --> 00:38:16,377
he's interested in my career.
893
00:38:16,419 --> 00:38:18,421
He's interested in me going to school.
894
00:38:18,462 --> 00:38:20,631
I get to be mentored by Bill Cosby.
895
00:38:20,673 --> 00:38:23,009
How great is that, you know?"
896
00:38:26,679 --> 00:38:30,474
I actually first met him in 1988.
897
00:38:30,516 --> 00:38:33,144
I played a waitress, no lines,
898
00:38:33,185 --> 00:38:35,438
in an episode about
the jazz singer Betty Carter.
899
00:38:35,479 --> 00:38:38,607
To hold him close
900
00:38:38,649 --> 00:38:40,860
Is heaven
901
00:38:40,901 --> 00:38:44,196
Being on that set was just magnificent
902
00:38:44,238 --> 00:38:45,865
and exciting and electric, and I wanted to be
903
00:38:45,906 --> 00:38:47,325
back in that working environment
904
00:38:47,366 --> 00:38:49,702
where so many Black people were collaborating
905
00:38:49,744 --> 00:38:51,996
to make this really great work.
906
00:38:52,038 --> 00:38:54,290
And two years later, there was an open call
907
00:38:54,332 --> 00:38:57,376
in Backstage magazine, which
is a trade paper for actors,
908
00:38:57,418 --> 00:38:59,211
and it was for stand-ins.
909
00:38:59,253 --> 00:39:02,340
So I answered the call, and,
um, Bill Cosby was there.
910
00:39:02,381 --> 00:39:04,800
I said, you know, "Thank you
for the opportunity
911
00:39:04,842 --> 00:39:06,344
to audition, but I don't
want to be a stand-in.
912
00:39:06,385 --> 00:39:09,263
I want to be a principal
character on your TV show."
913
00:39:09,305 --> 00:39:10,431
And he called me really quickly,
914
00:39:10,473 --> 00:39:11,515
it might have been that same night,
915
00:39:11,557 --> 00:39:13,142
and then he began mentoring me.
916
00:39:13,184 --> 00:39:14,977
He had always made it very
clear from the very beginning
917
00:39:15,019 --> 00:39:16,729
that I was gonna be written into the show
918
00:39:16,771 --> 00:39:18,481
when he introduced me to the producers
919
00:39:18,522 --> 00:39:19,857
and the directors, and the crew was like,
920
00:39:19,899 --> 00:39:21,776
"Oh, Lili Bernard's gonna be on the show.
921
00:39:21,817 --> 00:39:22,902
We're gonna write her in."
922
00:39:24,028 --> 00:39:25,696
Get a call from the agency
923
00:39:25,738 --> 00:39:28,240
that he wants to meet again.
924
00:39:28,282 --> 00:39:32,370
We meet, and he's like, "We're
gonna do some improv work.
925
00:39:32,411 --> 00:39:34,413
And I'll just kind of prompt you."
926
00:39:34,455 --> 00:39:35,748
And I get nervous
927
00:39:35,790 --> 00:39:37,583
because I'm like, "I'm not an actress,
928
00:39:37,625 --> 00:39:39,085
and you're Bill Cosby.
929
00:39:39,126 --> 00:39:41,253
You know, what do you expect me to do?
930
00:39:41,295 --> 00:39:43,589
You know, I don't even have lines or anything.
931
00:39:43,631 --> 00:39:45,091
I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
932
00:39:45,132 --> 00:39:48,344
And that's when he walks over to the bar,
933
00:39:48,386 --> 00:39:50,679
pours a shot,
934
00:39:50,721 --> 00:39:52,515
and then he walks back with it:
935
00:39:52,556 --> 00:39:55,059
"Take this.
It'll loosen you up."
936
00:39:55,101 --> 00:39:57,103
And the first thing out of my mouth is,
937
00:39:57,144 --> 00:39:58,729
"Well, I don't drink."
938
00:39:58,771 --> 00:40:01,232
And he's like, "Yeah, it's not that much.
939
00:40:01,273 --> 00:40:05,444
It'll just relax you, and then
the lines will easily flow."
940
00:40:05,486 --> 00:40:08,531
Well, it is just a shot,
and I think, "It's Bill Cosby,
941
00:40:08,572 --> 00:40:10,116
and he knows best,
942
00:40:10,157 --> 00:40:13,077
and, you know, he has
my best interests at heart."
943
00:40:13,119 --> 00:40:14,662
So I take the shot.
944
00:40:14,703 --> 00:40:16,497
Takes the glass, walks back to the bar,
945
00:40:16,539 --> 00:40:18,624
and he pours a second shot.
946
00:40:18,666 --> 00:40:20,584
And he's like, "This--it--trust me,"
947
00:40:20,626 --> 00:40:24,839
kind of thing, so I go with it
and take the second shot.
948
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,800
So then he starts
kind of talking about improv.
949
00:40:27,842 --> 00:40:29,802
And he's talking about, you know,
950
00:40:29,844 --> 00:40:31,929
uh, techniques, I guess, for acting.
951
00:40:31,971 --> 00:40:34,849
I start realizing that it feels almost like
952
00:40:34,890 --> 00:40:37,143
the room is closing in.
953
00:40:37,184 --> 00:40:40,271
It's like his words are turning into,
954
00:40:40,312 --> 00:40:41,522
you know, Charlie Brown,
955
00:40:41,564 --> 00:40:43,315
"Wah wa wah, wah wa wah."
956
00:40:43,357 --> 00:40:45,985
And the room is just kind of,
like, almost darkening.
957
00:40:46,026 --> 00:40:47,820
He tells me to come and sit down.
958
00:40:47,862 --> 00:40:51,490
And-and I'm feeling almost a little unsteady
959
00:40:51,532 --> 00:40:55,244
but still trying to hold on to the words.
960
00:40:55,286 --> 00:40:58,581
And as I'm sitting there,
he's stroking my head back
961
00:40:58,622 --> 00:41:01,083
like this, like, with my hair.
962
00:41:01,125 --> 00:41:02,168
He's stroking it back.
963
00:41:02,209 --> 00:41:04,170
And I'm just trying to understand, like,
964
00:41:04,211 --> 00:41:06,297
what does this have to do with improv?
965
00:41:06,338 --> 00:41:09,675
And then I remember walking
966
00:41:09,717 --> 00:41:13,012
in the hallway of the Elvis Suite.
967
00:41:13,053 --> 00:41:16,348
And it felt like I was just
moving down the hallway,
968
00:41:16,390 --> 00:41:17,808
almost floating.
969
00:41:17,850 --> 00:41:19,477
Like, I didn't feel my feet.
970
00:41:19,518 --> 00:41:22,813
And that's kind of the last memory that I have
971
00:41:22,855 --> 00:41:25,149
of being at that Elvis Suite.
972
00:41:29,069 --> 00:41:31,322
I'm not interested in reliving the trauma.
973
00:41:31,363 --> 00:41:34,867
As you know, this is really
difficult shit to talk about.
974
00:41:34,909 --> 00:41:37,828
And so when you talk about a time line, like...
975
00:41:39,246 --> 00:41:41,165
...you know, it's, like, really specific.
976
00:41:41,207 --> 00:41:44,293
I may just talk about what it
was like here or there, but...
977
00:41:46,045 --> 00:41:47,254
...I'm not gonna sit here and analyze
978
00:41:47,296 --> 00:41:48,881
what happened to me like a time line.
979
00:41:48,923 --> 00:41:50,174
You know what I'm saying?
980
00:41:51,133 --> 00:41:52,426
So...
981
00:41:52,801 --> 00:41:54,887
After Bill Cosby drugged and raped me,
982
00:41:54,929 --> 00:41:56,805
told people about both of
them, my agents and friends.
983
00:41:56,847 --> 00:41:59,475
And a few weeks later, you know,
984
00:41:59,517 --> 00:42:01,227
The Cosby Show calls my agent,
985
00:42:01,268 --> 00:42:03,896
saying that my role is written, come on in.
986
00:42:03,938 --> 00:42:05,689
So that's just, like, literally, like,
987
00:42:05,731 --> 00:42:08,359
right after, you know, the last incident.
988
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:10,903
I think that he was probably hurrying up
989
00:42:10,945 --> 00:42:13,072
and giving me the role
990
00:42:13,113 --> 00:42:14,573
that he had promised me to kind of, like,
991
00:42:14,615 --> 00:42:16,825
try to shut me up or something, maybe?
992
00:42:18,118 --> 00:42:20,246
Yoo-hoo!
Hello!
993
00:42:23,958 --> 00:42:27,419
What-what time is Mrs. Minifield's appointment?
994
00:42:27,461 --> 00:42:29,255
Eleven o'clock.
995
00:42:29,296 --> 00:42:31,882
It's 8:30.
996
00:42:33,425 --> 00:42:35,135
You're right on time.
997
00:42:35,844 --> 00:42:38,222
Because, like, some people have criticized me,
998
00:42:38,264 --> 00:42:40,140
"Well, why would you do the role?"
999
00:42:40,182 --> 00:42:42,893
Because I'm an actor, and it was work.
1000
00:42:42,935 --> 00:42:45,145
And it was work that I worked hard for
1001
00:42:45,187 --> 00:42:47,773
and I studied for it, and I prepared for it.
1002
00:42:47,815 --> 00:42:51,443
Bill Cosby is a very intelligent,
1003
00:42:51,485 --> 00:42:53,571
malignant narcissist.
1004
00:42:53,612 --> 00:42:55,781
And so he calculates, you know,
1005
00:42:55,823 --> 00:42:57,950
how to Hoover you in.
1006
00:42:57,992 --> 00:43:02,746
When I remember again, I'm at home.
1007
00:43:02,788 --> 00:43:04,957
The rest of it I didn't-don't remember.
1008
00:43:04,999 --> 00:43:06,792
I didn't know 'cause of the drugs, you know,
1009
00:43:06,834 --> 00:43:07,960
the side effects of the drugs.
1010
00:43:08,002 --> 00:43:09,753
I have no memory of it.
1011
00:43:09,795 --> 00:43:12,548
So what I remember is drinking the alcohol,
1012
00:43:12,590 --> 00:43:14,466
the shots that he gave me,
1013
00:43:14,508 --> 00:43:16,635
and feeling like I had passed out
1014
00:43:16,677 --> 00:43:19,471
or gotten drunk
1015
00:43:19,513 --> 00:43:21,724
and-and don't recall.
1016
00:43:21,765 --> 00:43:23,809
And then I thought, "Oh, my gosh,
1017
00:43:23,851 --> 00:43:25,436
did I make a fool of myself?"
1018
00:43:25,477 --> 00:43:30,316
Well, surprisingly, Cosby calls me back.
1019
00:43:30,357 --> 00:43:31,775
He wants to meet again.
1020
00:43:31,817 --> 00:43:33,485
We go to his show.
1021
00:43:33,527 --> 00:43:36,864
I bring my mother, my sister,
and her husband at the time.
1022
00:43:36,905 --> 00:43:39,158
Now Cosby's calling our house.
1023
00:43:39,199 --> 00:43:42,494
He invited my mother and I out to UNLV.
1024
00:43:42,536 --> 00:43:46,165
He even referred to me as his daughter Lise.
1025
00:43:46,206 --> 00:43:48,792
"Oh, I'm out here with my daughter Lise."
1026
00:43:48,834 --> 00:43:50,961
So he invited my dad to the-to the set.
1027
00:43:51,003 --> 00:43:52,212
My dad came to the set.
1028
00:43:52,254 --> 00:43:55,215
My brothers and my cousins came to the set.
1029
00:43:55,257 --> 00:43:56,717
They met Bill Cosby.
1030
00:43:56,759 --> 00:43:58,177
And so he brings the family
1031
00:43:58,218 --> 00:44:00,304
into this whole process of mentoring.
1032
00:44:00,346 --> 00:44:03,182
So then when the--
when the motherfucker finally,
1033
00:44:03,223 --> 00:44:05,142
you know, gains your trust
and drugs you and rape you,
1034
00:44:05,184 --> 00:44:06,935
now you gotta tell all these people
1035
00:44:06,977 --> 00:44:08,979
who got to know and love Bill Cosby too,
1036
00:44:09,021 --> 00:44:11,690
"Uh, Mom, Dad, uh, cousin,
sister, uh, boyfriend,
1037
00:44:11,732 --> 00:44:13,484
uh, he actually raped me."
1038
00:44:13,525 --> 00:44:15,152
And they're like, "What? No."
1039
00:44:15,194 --> 00:44:16,695
That is just
1040
00:44:16,737 --> 00:44:18,322
his MO, right?
1041
00:44:18,364 --> 00:44:21,700
He tried several times for us to get together.
1042
00:44:21,742 --> 00:44:23,035
And every time,
1043
00:44:23,077 --> 00:44:25,788
I always seemed to have somebody with me.
1044
00:44:27,206 --> 00:44:31,210
I didn't understand it, didn't really know.
1045
00:44:31,251 --> 00:44:35,881
I just knew that if he called
and he wanted to see me,
1046
00:44:35,923 --> 00:44:37,591
I took somebody with me.
1047
00:44:37,633 --> 00:44:40,094
Yoo-hoo!
Hello!
1048
00:44:40,135 --> 00:44:42,763
It was the most difficult job
1049
00:44:42,805 --> 00:44:44,682
that I had ever had in my life.
1050
00:44:44,723 --> 00:44:47,267
It was very combative for me.
1051
00:44:47,309 --> 00:44:50,062
My boyfriend at the time
came with me to the set
1052
00:44:50,104 --> 00:44:52,022
as, like, sort of "protection."
1053
00:44:52,064 --> 00:44:54,233
And so the two of us had
to have lunch with him
1054
00:44:54,274 --> 00:44:56,819
in his dressing room during the whole week.
1055
00:44:58,278 --> 00:44:59,905
He was, like, tormenting me.
1056
00:44:59,947 --> 00:45:02,116
For example, when I had to say "milk,"
1057
00:45:02,157 --> 00:45:05,077
"milk," he'd tell me, "No, say milk!"
1058
00:45:05,119 --> 00:45:08,831
Our baby has half my husband's genes.
1059
00:45:08,872 --> 00:45:10,332
And I'm making up for what he lacks
1060
00:45:10,374 --> 00:45:14,670
by eating lots of calcium, cheese, milk.
1061
00:45:14,712 --> 00:45:17,256
"No, Mrs. Minifield says milk."
1062
00:45:17,297 --> 00:45:19,383
Cheese, milk.
1063
00:45:19,425 --> 00:45:20,676
And I'd say "milk."
1064
00:45:20,718 --> 00:45:21,719
And he'd, like, cut the cameras.
1065
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:22,761
He'd go into this little rage.
1066
00:45:22,803 --> 00:45:24,847
"I said, say 'milk!'
Not 'milk.'"
1067
00:45:24,888 --> 00:45:26,515
And he'd get really, really angry.
1068
00:45:27,975 --> 00:45:29,768
The Wednesday night before taping,
1069
00:45:29,810 --> 00:45:30,936
it was late at night,
1070
00:45:30,978 --> 00:45:32,438
something like around nine o'clock.
1071
00:45:32,479 --> 00:45:35,274
And we had a whole day of
dress rehearsal on Wednesday.
1072
00:45:35,315 --> 00:45:38,277
And we were sitting at Dr. Huxtable's desk.
1073
00:45:38,318 --> 00:45:41,739
And Mr. C calls it a wrap,
and I start leaving,
1074
00:45:41,780 --> 00:45:44,283
and he said, "No"--
he used to call me Bernard.
1075
00:45:44,324 --> 00:45:45,993
So he said, "No, Bernard, you're not done.
1076
00:45:46,034 --> 00:45:48,078
'Cause you're not hitting those notes.
1077
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:49,288
I want you to hit 'milk!'"
1078
00:45:49,329 --> 00:45:51,331
And he says, "You're coming with me."
1079
00:45:51,373 --> 00:45:52,958
I said, "I'm not going to your house, Mr.C,
1080
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:54,126
'cause you know what happened
1081
00:45:54,168 --> 00:45:55,252
the last time I went to your house.
1082
00:45:55,294 --> 00:45:56,462
I'm not going to your house again."
1083
00:45:56,503 --> 00:45:58,130
It started getting really tense.
1084
00:45:58,172 --> 00:45:59,673
The production crew started--
their faces started
1085
00:45:59,715 --> 00:46:02,217
to get red and kind of, like--
they start to kind of scatter
1086
00:46:02,259 --> 00:46:04,511
like cockroaches as he started to get rageful.
1087
00:46:04,553 --> 00:46:05,804
He says, "If you don't go to my house, Bernard,
1088
00:46:05,846 --> 00:46:07,139
I'm gonna fire you.
I'm gonna fire you.
1089
00:46:07,181 --> 00:46:08,307
That's it, you're over.
It's through."
1090
00:46:08,348 --> 00:46:09,892
And I said, "Well, fine, fire me."
1091
00:46:09,933 --> 00:46:13,145
So he slammed down his, um,
pa--his script, and he said,
1092
00:46:13,187 --> 00:46:14,938
"This isn't about me trying
to fuck your ass anymore,
1093
00:46:14,980 --> 00:46:16,440
Bernard, we're through."
1094
00:46:16,482 --> 00:46:18,150
I thought I was fired.
1095
00:46:18,192 --> 00:46:19,234
You know, and, like,
six o'clock in the morning,
1096
00:46:19,276 --> 00:46:21,653
this car shows up at my house.
1097
00:46:21,695 --> 00:46:23,739
Oh, I guess I'm not fired, right?
1098
00:46:23,781 --> 00:46:25,908
We filmed twice in front of a live audience,
1099
00:46:25,949 --> 00:46:27,493
so there's hundreds of people there.
1100
00:46:27,534 --> 00:46:28,994
And there's a comic warming up the crowd.
1101
00:46:29,036 --> 00:46:30,287
There's music.
1102
00:46:30,329 --> 00:46:32,289
It's just a really--
a festive time.
1103
00:46:32,331 --> 00:46:33,582
And I'm sweating and perspiring,
1104
00:46:33,624 --> 00:46:34,583
and my legs are shaking.
1105
00:46:34,625 --> 00:46:35,667
I'm like, "How am I gonna--
1106
00:46:35,709 --> 00:46:36,585
how am I gonna deliver these lines?"
1107
00:46:38,045 --> 00:46:40,422
Cheese, milk.
1108
00:46:40,464 --> 00:46:43,133
And as the audience is applauding,
1109
00:46:43,175 --> 00:46:45,010
he looked at me, and he said,
1110
00:46:45,052 --> 00:46:46,929
"Fooled 'em again."
1111
00:46:50,057 --> 00:46:51,850
We thought we knew Cosby.
1112
00:46:51,892 --> 00:46:55,187
We never knew Cosby.
1113
00:46:56,104 --> 00:46:59,566
Heathcliff was the perfect body
1114
00:46:59,608 --> 00:47:03,028
to embody for him
1115
00:47:03,070 --> 00:47:05,572
because his crimes were getting worse.
1116
00:47:07,241 --> 00:47:08,992
When you look at the number of stories
1117
00:47:09,034 --> 00:47:10,369
of women who've come forward
1118
00:47:10,410 --> 00:47:12,704
saying Bill Cosby assaulted or raped them
1119
00:47:12,746 --> 00:47:14,373
during this time
1120
00:47:14,414 --> 00:47:16,959
and then you look at the
number of accolades he got,
1121
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:19,628
you see they skyrocketed together.
1122
00:47:19,670 --> 00:47:21,046
Around the same time
1123
00:47:21,088 --> 00:47:22,673
he released his book Fatherhood
1124
00:47:22,714 --> 00:47:25,050
and Hollywood was crowning
him with yet another Emmy
1125
00:47:25,092 --> 00:47:26,385
and two Golden Globes...
1126
00:47:26,426 --> 00:47:29,179
Bill Cosby.
The Cosby Show.
1127
00:47:29,221 --> 00:47:31,348
He was guest-hosting The Tonight Show...
1128
00:47:31,390 --> 00:47:33,892
My next guest is a very talented actor.
1129
00:47:34,935 --> 00:47:36,186
...and, according to many,
1130
00:47:36,228 --> 00:47:38,730
abusing his power behind the scenes.
1131
00:47:38,772 --> 00:47:40,482
I was raped,
1132
00:47:40,524 --> 00:47:43,902
and I was afraid for my life,
thinking he could do more.
1133
00:47:43,944 --> 00:47:46,071
I informed a lawyer.
1134
00:47:46,113 --> 00:47:48,323
I informed a police officer.
1135
00:47:48,365 --> 00:47:50,617
But at the same time, I thought...
1136
00:47:54,079 --> 00:47:57,249
"Will anybody believe me against him? No.
1137
00:47:57,291 --> 00:48:00,711
Will I have the money to fight this,
1138
00:48:00,752 --> 00:48:03,797
such power and wealth? No."
1139
00:48:03,839 --> 00:48:06,592
1140
00:48:06,633 --> 00:48:09,720
1141
00:48:09,761 --> 00:48:11,555
You were invited to his dressing room.
1142
00:48:11,597 --> 00:48:13,974
He was wearing a loosely tied robe.
1143
00:48:14,016 --> 00:48:16,560
What was his reaction when
you wouldn't take the drink?
1144
00:48:16,602 --> 00:48:19,021
You know, physically,
he got angry. He withdrew.
1145
00:48:19,062 --> 00:48:21,565
He kept pressing the drink towards me.
1146
00:48:21,607 --> 00:48:24,651
And I did refuse it, thank God.
1147
00:48:24,693 --> 00:48:27,905
Just maybe a few weeks before,
I had been working with him
1148
00:48:27,946 --> 00:48:29,364
on set.
1149
00:48:29,406 --> 00:48:32,284
I did not take the drink.
I was not drugged.
1150
00:48:32,326 --> 00:48:34,745
And I wasn't raped.
My career was a victim.
1151
00:48:34,786 --> 00:48:39,958
1152
00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:41,627
He was my acting coach.
1153
00:48:41,668 --> 00:48:44,630
He was my guardian.
He was my father figure.
1154
00:48:44,671 --> 00:48:47,633
He got my mother to trust him
so that when I was doing
1155
00:48:47,674 --> 00:48:52,304
acting exercises, he was drugging me, uh,
1156
00:48:52,346 --> 00:48:54,765
and the--I didn't know what was happening
1157
00:48:54,806 --> 00:48:56,141
at the beginning.
1158
00:48:56,183 --> 00:48:59,895
It wasn't until later on, I came out of it
1159
00:48:59,937 --> 00:49:01,980
a lot sooner than he thought I would,
1160
00:49:02,022 --> 00:49:04,900
and I was able to fight him off.
1161
00:49:04,942 --> 00:49:07,653
His last words to me were,
"I'd better never, ever
1162
00:49:07,694 --> 00:49:09,237
see your face ever again."
1163
00:49:09,279 --> 00:49:14,493
1164
00:49:18,205 --> 00:49:20,666
The Cosby Show ended
1165
00:49:20,707 --> 00:49:23,794
on April 30, 1992.
1166
00:49:23,835 --> 00:49:25,045
It was the show
1167
00:49:25,087 --> 00:49:26,380
you planned your Thursdays around.
1168
00:49:26,421 --> 00:49:28,632
Now, after eight years of magical moments,
1169
00:49:28,674 --> 00:49:31,468
it's time to come back
for the biggest one of all.
1170
00:49:31,510 --> 00:49:33,387
Join us one last time to say farewell
1171
00:49:33,428 --> 00:49:34,888
to an American tradition,
1172
00:49:34,930 --> 00:49:37,182
the final Cosby Show.
1173
00:49:37,224 --> 00:49:40,978
There were sort of two views of America
1174
00:49:41,019 --> 00:49:41,937
at that moment.
1175
00:49:41,979 --> 00:49:43,146
It was the Huxtable family
1176
00:49:43,188 --> 00:49:45,023
attending Theo's graduation...
1177
00:49:45,065 --> 00:49:47,359
Oh, boy, oh, boy.
1178
00:49:47,401 --> 00:49:50,195
...and there were the riots
after the officers
1179
00:49:50,237 --> 00:49:52,906
who beat Rodney King were acquitted.
1180
00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:55,033
There is thick black smoke everywhere
1181
00:49:55,075 --> 00:49:57,619
from the hundreds of fires
that have been set.
1182
00:49:57,661 --> 00:49:59,871
Eighteen confirmed deaths.
1183
00:49:59,913 --> 00:50:02,457
Schools are closed; UCLA is closed.
1184
00:50:02,499 --> 00:50:06,211
Today Mayor Tom Bradley
urged everyone in Los Angeles
1185
00:50:06,253 --> 00:50:08,922
to remain home, to stay off the streets.
1186
00:50:08,964 --> 00:50:11,883
He also suggested they might
want to watch The Cosby Show.
1187
00:50:11,925 --> 00:50:13,677
It-it felt kind of perfect...
1188
00:50:15,429 --> 00:50:17,889
...that as this utopia ends...
1189
00:50:19,933 --> 00:50:21,226
...reality came crashing in.
1190
00:50:21,268 --> 00:50:23,562
And it felt, to me, like
1191
00:50:23,603 --> 00:50:25,439
when you're in a movie theater all day
1192
00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:27,566
and it's air-conditioned and cool and great
1193
00:50:27,607 --> 00:50:30,694
and you walk outside and
there's that gust of hot air.
1194
00:50:31,194 --> 00:50:34,573
Maybe a time to remember
what Thursday nights were like
1195
00:50:34,614 --> 00:50:37,200
before all this madness began in Los Angeles.
1196
00:50:37,242 --> 00:50:39,911
We hope you use this hour
to say goodbye and thanks
1197
00:50:39,953 --> 00:50:40,704
to a good friend.
1198
00:50:40,746 --> 00:50:43,623
1199
00:50:45,292 --> 00:50:47,461
Bill Cosby, here we go.
1200
00:50:50,047 --> 00:50:52,758
But Bill Cosby did not
walk off into the sunset.
1201
00:50:52,799 --> 00:50:56,094
He was still one of the most
powerful men in showbiz.
1202
00:50:56,136 --> 00:50:57,429
He wanted more.
1203
00:50:57,471 --> 00:50:59,598
Bill Cosby.
Welcome...
1204
00:50:59,639 --> 00:51:00,849
Over the next six years,
1205
00:51:00,891 --> 00:51:02,851
he had five shows.
1206
00:51:02,893 --> 00:51:04,936
But nothing hits like The Cosby Show.
1207
00:51:04,978 --> 00:51:06,730
And even his CBS sitcom, Cosby,
1208
00:51:06,772 --> 00:51:09,524
that was on for four years
is little-remembered.
1209
00:51:11,485 --> 00:51:13,111
The thing that people remember most
1210
00:51:13,153 --> 00:51:15,906
about that time is this.
1211
00:51:15,947 --> 00:51:18,450
A reminder today that any family
1212
00:51:18,492 --> 00:51:20,660
can be touched by violent crime.
1213
00:51:20,702 --> 00:51:22,245
No one is immune.
1214
00:51:22,913 --> 00:51:26,666
The son of American
entertainment icon Bill Cosby
1215
00:51:26,708 --> 00:51:28,752
was murdered today in Los Angeles.
1216
00:51:30,545 --> 00:51:32,130
...that Ennis had died?
1217
00:51:32,172 --> 00:51:34,132
Um...
1218
00:51:34,174 --> 00:51:35,467
well, I was asked to go home.
1219
00:51:35,509 --> 00:51:37,177
I know something awful happened.
1220
00:51:38,178 --> 00:51:41,014
And on my way out, someone told me.
1221
00:51:41,056 --> 00:51:42,974
Um, on my way out of the studio,
1222
00:51:43,016 --> 00:51:44,518
uh, Kaufman Astoria Studios,
1223
00:51:44,559 --> 00:51:46,645
someone said, you know, this happened.
1224
00:51:46,686 --> 00:51:47,979
Okay.
1225
00:51:48,021 --> 00:51:49,731
I was walking to the studio,
1226
00:51:49,773 --> 00:51:51,858
and they were like,
"Well, Dr. Cosby's not here.
1227
00:51:51,900 --> 00:51:54,402
He's taking care of something.
You know, it's an emergency."
1228
00:51:54,444 --> 00:51:55,821
I said, "Oh, okay."
1229
00:51:55,862 --> 00:51:56,988
I remember this day.
1230
00:51:57,030 --> 00:51:58,490
I walk back to my apartment,
1231
00:51:58,532 --> 00:52:00,659
and I turn on the TV, and I said, "Oh, shit."
1232
00:52:00,700 --> 00:52:03,495
It was just the report
of his son being murdered
1233
00:52:03,537 --> 00:52:05,413
and the whole nine.
1234
00:52:05,455 --> 00:52:06,581
What have they told you, sir?
1235
00:52:06,623 --> 00:52:07,999
Anything at all?
1236
00:52:08,041 --> 00:52:10,127
He was my hero.
1237
00:52:10,168 --> 00:52:12,295
Eleven days after Ennis Cosby
1238
00:52:12,337 --> 00:52:13,839
was gunned down in Los Angeles,
1239
00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:16,675
his father says it is time to heal,
1240
00:52:16,716 --> 00:52:18,009
to laugh again.
1241
00:52:18,051 --> 00:52:21,680
For Bill Cosby, that means
plunging back into work.
1242
00:52:21,721 --> 00:52:24,516
The day that we, you know, came back, uh,
1243
00:52:24,558 --> 00:52:26,143
to work on Cosby,
1244
00:52:26,184 --> 00:52:29,688
he, uh, assembled us in the stands,
1245
00:52:29,729 --> 00:52:31,857
walked in, almost as if it was like,
1246
00:52:31,898 --> 00:52:34,192
"Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Cosby,"
1247
00:52:34,234 --> 00:52:35,527
which was not unusual,
1248
00:52:35,569 --> 00:52:37,654
because he always entered the room that way.
1249
00:52:37,696 --> 00:52:40,657
The next week, Cosby came back
1250
00:52:40,699 --> 00:52:44,703
and did a whole stand-up set
on his son's burial.
1251
00:52:44,744 --> 00:52:47,539
He had people crying
and laughing at the same time.
1252
00:52:47,581 --> 00:52:48,582
"They were struggling with,
1253
00:52:48,623 --> 00:52:49,916
'What should we bury him with?'
1254
00:52:49,958 --> 00:52:51,668
No, don't put that in there.
What's wrong"--
1255
00:52:51,710 --> 00:52:52,502
He killed it.
1256
00:52:52,544 --> 00:52:53,670
Now, most people would think,
1257
00:52:53,712 --> 00:52:56,715
"Man, too soon, too soon, bruh."
1258
00:52:56,756 --> 00:52:59,134
But he was explaining to us that as a comedian,
1259
00:52:59,176 --> 00:53:03,972
his job is to turn faces around
1260
00:53:04,014 --> 00:53:06,141
from this to happy.
1261
00:53:06,183 --> 00:53:08,226
And the only way to do that
1262
00:53:08,268 --> 00:53:10,395
is to go back to work.
1263
00:53:10,854 --> 00:53:13,523
When his son, Ennis, was murdered,
1264
00:53:13,565 --> 00:53:15,859
I felt great compassion for him
1265
00:53:15,901 --> 00:53:18,153
and for his wife.
1266
00:53:18,195 --> 00:53:19,404
And I remember thinking,
1267
00:53:19,446 --> 00:53:21,364
"No matter what you thought
about this person
1268
00:53:21,406 --> 00:53:23,742
up until now, this is
a horrible, tragic thing
1269
00:53:23,783 --> 00:53:25,493
to go through.
1270
00:53:25,535 --> 00:53:28,747
And surely this would be
the kind of life event
1271
00:53:28,788 --> 00:53:30,582
that would make someone take stock
1272
00:53:30,624 --> 00:53:32,250
of what they were doing in their lives."
1273
00:53:32,292 --> 00:53:37,714
1274
00:53:39,966 --> 00:53:43,220
In 2004, the NAACP holds a dinner
1275
00:53:43,261 --> 00:53:46,598
to commemorate the Brown v.
Board of Education decision,
1276
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:48,558
the decision that outlaws
1277
00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:52,062
the legal segregation of schools.
1278
00:53:52,103 --> 00:53:55,148
The keynote speaker is Bill Cosby.
1279
00:53:55,190 --> 00:53:57,776
Bill Cosby does something nobody anticipates.
1280
00:53:59,611 --> 00:54:03,114
He gets up and delivers a harangue
1281
00:54:03,156 --> 00:54:05,575
against Black poor people.
1282
00:54:05,617 --> 00:54:09,037
And he says specifically
1283
00:54:09,079 --> 00:54:13,291
that they're not holding up
their end of the bargain.
1284
00:54:13,333 --> 00:54:15,126
Telling us about where we went wrong,
1285
00:54:15,168 --> 00:54:17,796
what we need to do better,
why we ain't shit.
1286
00:54:17,837 --> 00:54:20,465
Like, he just went
through all of it, A to Z,
1287
00:54:20,507 --> 00:54:22,717
a read by Bill Cosby.
1288
00:54:35,355 --> 00:54:36,523
The Pound Cake speech.
1289
00:54:36,564 --> 00:54:39,526
Whew, this was intense.
1290
00:55:03,258 --> 00:55:06,761
He sounds like every other
older Black gentleman
1291
00:55:06,803 --> 00:55:09,639
that I have encountered in my lifetime.
1292
00:55:09,681 --> 00:55:13,351
And the shock of it just seemed overblown to me.
1293
00:55:13,393 --> 00:55:16,688
The first time I heard
about the Pound Cake speech,
1294
00:55:16,730 --> 00:55:18,189
I think was from my mother.
1295
00:55:18,231 --> 00:55:19,482
She didn't like the way
1296
00:55:19,524 --> 00:55:21,318
he was saying the message either.
1297
00:55:21,359 --> 00:55:23,611
But...
1298
00:55:23,653 --> 00:55:26,031
she was like, "Are you-are you listening?"
1299
00:55:26,072 --> 00:55:28,867
You know what I mean?
Like, "This is...
1300
00:55:28,908 --> 00:55:30,618
this is how they think of you."
1301
00:55:42,047 --> 00:55:45,717
How do you go from being America's dad
1302
00:55:45,759 --> 00:55:49,721
to sounding like any white
conservative politician,
1303
00:55:49,763 --> 00:55:52,932
you know, blaming Black people
for everything
1304
00:55:52,974 --> 00:55:55,894
and not looking at all
at any of the underlying
1305
00:55:55,935 --> 00:55:58,897
situations that have existed
for decades and centuries?
1306
00:55:58,938 --> 00:56:00,982
After the speech that you did
1307
00:56:01,024 --> 00:56:03,985
and it was, uh, labeled controversial,
1308
00:56:04,027 --> 00:56:06,821
did you regret having done the speech?
1309
00:56:06,863 --> 00:56:08,740
No, no.
1310
00:56:08,782 --> 00:56:11,201
The only thing I regretted was,
1311
00:56:11,242 --> 00:56:14,245
I thought that I was talking
to just my people.
1312
00:56:14,287 --> 00:56:15,830
Yeah.
1313
00:56:15,872 --> 00:56:17,749
For the first time in his career,
1314
00:56:17,791 --> 00:56:20,752
Bill Cosby divided the Black community.
1315
00:56:20,794 --> 00:56:22,837
It's on us.
1316
00:56:22,879 --> 00:56:26,007
To be fair, some Black folks loved it.
1317
00:56:26,049 --> 00:56:29,761
But many of us hated it and felt betrayed.
1318
00:56:29,803 --> 00:56:32,514
And it hurt even more
when he wrote a book about it
1319
00:56:32,555 --> 00:56:35,392
and took this new act on the road.
1320
00:56:35,433 --> 00:56:36,935
What's the problem here?
1321
00:56:36,976 --> 00:56:40,105
Why are we worried about dirty laundry?
1322
00:56:40,146 --> 00:56:42,023
And also, looking back, just feels like
1323
00:56:42,065 --> 00:56:43,942
he was working through his own problems.
1324
00:56:43,983 --> 00:56:48,905
I'm talking about dead young males.
1325
00:56:48,947 --> 00:56:52,867
Believe a child when she says
somebody's fondling her.
1326
00:56:53,993 --> 00:56:56,454
Bill Cosby turned this one speech
1327
00:56:56,496 --> 00:56:58,915
into the next phase of his career.
1328
00:56:59,207 --> 00:57:01,918
And a lot of the people
who loved what he was saying
1329
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:04,462
did not have the best interests
1330
00:57:04,504 --> 00:57:06,214
of Black people at heart.
1331
00:57:06,256 --> 00:57:07,132
What are you gonna do about the war
1332
00:57:07,173 --> 00:57:08,633
in the inner city?
1333
00:57:08,675 --> 00:57:09,801
Well, one, about the war in in inner city,
1334
00:57:09,843 --> 00:57:11,386
number one is to get more moms and dads.
1335
00:57:11,428 --> 00:57:12,887
That's number one.
1336
00:57:12,929 --> 00:57:14,639
And thank heavens Bill Cosby
said it like it was.
1337
00:57:14,681 --> 00:57:16,558
That's where the root of crime starts.
1338
00:57:16,599 --> 00:57:19,811
By then, Bill Cosby's audience is not us.
1339
00:57:19,853 --> 00:57:23,064
Bill Cosby's audience is not just white
1340
00:57:23,106 --> 00:57:24,482
but white and elite.
1341
00:57:24,524 --> 00:57:26,067
He is making these arguments
1342
00:57:26,109 --> 00:57:28,945
in some of the most hostile spaces,
1343
00:57:28,987 --> 00:57:31,322
uh, to Black community and Black progress
1344
00:57:31,364 --> 00:57:32,824
and Black advancement.
1345
00:57:32,866 --> 00:57:35,952
And it felt like a violation of the community
1346
00:57:35,994 --> 00:57:38,830
that had helped legitimize him as America's dad.
1347
00:57:38,872 --> 00:57:42,250
There is a time, ladies and gentlemen,
1348
00:57:42,292 --> 00:57:45,670
when we have to turn the mirror around.
1349
00:57:45,712 --> 00:57:48,840
Meanwhile, in 2004,
1350
00:57:48,882 --> 00:57:51,509
the same year that he gives
the Pound Cake speech
1351
00:57:51,551 --> 00:57:53,428
is the same year
1352
00:57:53,470 --> 00:57:58,183
that he is accused of having
raped Andrea Constand.
1353
00:57:59,893 --> 00:58:03,396
The allegation was that he
1354
00:58:03,438 --> 00:58:06,983
drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand
1355
00:58:07,025 --> 00:58:09,819
in his home.
1356
00:58:09,861 --> 00:58:13,198
For 25 years, I thought I was the only one
1357
00:58:13,239 --> 00:58:15,575
until Andrea Constand came forward.
1358
00:58:15,617 --> 00:58:16,951
Bill Cosby is the focus
1359
00:58:16,993 --> 00:58:19,120
of a police investigation near Philadelphia.
1360
00:58:19,162 --> 00:58:21,164
A Tampa University employee
1361
00:58:21,206 --> 00:58:22,499
accused Cosby...
...Accused Cosby
1362
00:58:22,540 --> 00:58:24,209
of drugging and molesting her.
1363
00:58:24,250 --> 00:58:28,213
In 2004, there were
two stories about Bill Cosby.
1364
00:58:28,254 --> 00:58:31,549
One was about him shifting
from being America's dad
1365
00:58:31,591 --> 00:58:33,718
to Black America's angry grandpa.
1366
00:58:33,760 --> 00:58:35,887
You gotta straighten up your house.
1367
00:58:35,929 --> 00:58:37,388
And the other is about him being accused
1368
00:58:37,430 --> 00:58:38,890
of sexual assault.
1369
00:58:38,932 --> 00:58:40,850
Bill Cosby does not have to go to court
1370
00:58:40,892 --> 00:58:43,019
over charges of sexual misconduct.
1371
00:58:43,061 --> 00:58:45,188
And it stayed that way for a while,
1372
00:58:45,230 --> 00:58:47,815
these two sort of separate stories.
1373
00:58:49,234 --> 00:58:50,860
And it wasn't until ten years later
1374
00:58:50,902 --> 00:58:52,862
that somebody put those two stories together
1375
00:58:52,904 --> 00:58:54,405
in a way that we, the public, could finally
1376
00:58:54,447 --> 00:58:55,907
start to deal with.
1377
00:58:55,949 --> 00:58:57,033
More trouble for Bill Cosby...
1378
00:58:57,075 --> 00:58:58,493
And it wasn't a journalist.
1379
00:58:58,868 --> 00:59:01,287
Ironically, it was a Black stand-up comic
1380
00:59:01,329 --> 00:59:02,664
in Philadelphia,
1381
00:59:02,705 --> 00:59:04,082
Cosby's hometown.
106775
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