I kinda don't wanna keep writing about Bill Cosby here but there's something fascinating about this case…not about the alleged crimes of sex and violence but about our reaction to them and how fans of Mr. Cosby are processing all this information.
While I was in the air yesterday, the news said that more women have come forth with allegations and several performance venues have canceled bookings with him…but at the same time, when he appeared for a show in Melbourne, Florida he was cheered and received a standing ovation. Now, I have no doubt what he did on that stage was very, very funny. Rape charges aside, no one's better at that than William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. and before this new flurry of charges, he always got standing o's.
But I do wonder what, if anything, was on the minds of those who showed up that night, laughed and stood to clap. Presumably, they all purchased tickets before they heard about the fifteen or eighteen (or whatever it's up to now) women who say Cos drugged them then had his way with them and I do understand the feeling of "We paid for these, we might as well use them." Some of those people might even have thought, "Hey, this could be our last chance to see Bill Cosby on a stage."
Still, you can think all that and not give the guy an enthusiastic round of applause that would be interpreted as, "We don't care, Bill. We love you." One does wonder if Cosby hears that and thinks, "Hell, the public still loves me. All I need to do is stonewall and press on and this damn thing will blow over."
I wish someone could have polled that audience to discern their attitude. I'm trying to think of what some of them might have been thinking…
- "No, I didn't really hear anything about rape and anyway, the press prints a lot of crap about celebrities that isn't true. If he really did this stuff, why isn't he in prison or something?"
- "I just don't believe all those women. I think it's some conspiracy to extort money from the guy or ruin his reputation for some reason."
- "I've always loved the guy. I don't care what anyone says. I just don't believe it."
- "I've always loved the guy. What he does when he's not on stage is a separate matter and none of my business."
- "Hey, so maybe he had a little fun with some women who were trying to use him to help their careers. Remember some of them came back to see him again after it. It wasn't a big deal and anyway, if it happened, it's way in the past."
- "I don't know who to believe but I know he's really funny and we had these tickets…"
And there are probably other views. If political discussions on the Internet have taught us anything, it's that some people think some pretty weird things and that they make up their mind about something and then firmly believe whatever "evidence" they have to believe to support that view. There are human beings who insist they have incontrovertible proof that Martians killed J.F.K. to try and stop the U.S. space program.
Unless some recent victim emerges to turn this whole thing into a police matter, Cosby can probably coast for a while on audiences of such people. Someone will book him and he can maintain some pretense of the charges being like gnats that can be swatted away. He's made too many folks too much money for entrepreneurs not to offer him stages and vehicles…until he stops making them money. A career can go on and on for some time before it becomes obvious to all that it's over.