It's not about being betrayed, you have to look at it more pragmatically. Be a little robotic about it, for now. If the allegations are true, then he's pretty disturbed. This isn't normal "guy acts like jerk" stuff (no offense to guys
), this is strange behavior, like "he should been diagnosed by a professional" strange. If it's true, he ought to be punished, but I'm not going to waste my anger when clearly the guy isn't all there (at least in my layman opinion).
To me it isn't an allegations are true/untrue thing. It's that he really seems very... let me put it to you this way. He seems kinda unnaturally smug about the allegations. It somehow manages to suggest "I did it, but I'm too powerful a celebrity that I'd be taken down by this," where as I'd say someone who didn't do it would be a lot more miserable looking and take the hint. To me it's very likely he did this but feels that it isn't wrong, so he's not even apologetic in the "I'm sorry you think I did it, but trust me, I didn't" sort of way. It's unnerving.
About the question of a double standard, it's all about image. Cosby had this conservative attitude which rubbed a lot of people in the business the wrong way, so they don't mind watching him crash and burn. Whereas with Woody Allen, first off he always seemed neurotic and weird, it wasn't that surprising, heh. Plus he married the girl and she didn't seem miserable, that made it easier for people to at least tolerate, if not support. But second, he's liberal. That does go a long way in the business (and it's the same with conservative circles).
To me the difference is simple. Woody Allen never tried to educate, nor did he ever market himself directly as a voice for children. Cosby always made some good points, but sometimes he was a little...off putting, like the time he chastised a student for getting a 2.5 grade average and supposedly saying it's okay "if you have a mental disorder." Not to mention the fact that he once got really angry and sent a letter to the Coca-Cola for daring to change the formula back because he felt all the New Coke commercials he did would hurt his credibility. And my
personal favorite, being completely humorless about Justin Roiland's "House of Cosbys" web cartoons. We're talking about an animator that turned his crude Back to the Future parody into the best show on adult swim without Universal batting an eye. So there is something I have to admit I dislike about him, but that's the whole "celebrities are complicated" thing.
Woody Allen...eh... what he did was also morally suspect, but he never took a moral stance the way Cosby did. His stuff was always for adults, and there are those who still genuinely think what he did was gross but can still enjoy his films from the level of "he's a good film maker." I did raise my eyebrow that he cast Andrew Dice Clay in a role, but that's about it.
And then I feel a little odd about Mike Tyson. There are those who still hold the fact that he sexually assaulted someone when he was a young boxer. And I have to admit, that was a terrible thing, but Mike's been trying very hard to put that behind him. I think it does hurt the reception of his new adult swim cartoon and his cameos in the Hangover films. But he generally seems that he knew that boxing is an aggressive sport and aggressive sports cause you to be aggressive outside of sports. Like, no wonder he bit Holyfield's ear off. And frankly, I think we all forgot about the assault when
that happened because...it was the most hilarious thing ever at the time. I still remember just falling to the floor and laughing at it. But now he has that cartoon show which shows he at least has a sense of humor about himself and it contains enough Adam Westing that you're rooting for the guy's self change.
So I think that's the one thing Cosby's lacking. Awareness and a willingness to say that even if these are just all allegations that he is at least sorry things came to this. But the fact is, what makes it eerie is that it's clear that if he
did do these things he had a history of it to the point where he had a stand up routine about Spanish Fly and a TV sitcom episode about BBQ sauce that makes people sleepy and promiscuous. It almost feels that he doesn't actually know its wrong and passed out women is his fetish. But to me the only real hypocrisy about this is if anyone finds Quagmire from Family Guy doing that funny.
Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Jim Henson Idea Man
Back to the Rock Season 2
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Book
