Really Bill? Goddamn it.

[aitm]

My father, early in my life, taught me to never put people on pedestals. "Its not if they will fall, because they will, it's the noise and destruction they make when they hit the ground".

I have never....never....never bought into the whole "fandom" crap. As much as I loved the Moody Blues, and I have had several opportunities to see them in concert....in town..right in town.. I never did. Oh, I love their music, but I would not spend more than normal money to see them when it is the music I like, not seeing them. Like movie stars.. I wouldn't walk across the street to see anyone..really. I have been a Tom Brady fan since his college days at Michigan and I have had several opportunities to actually see him and possibly meet him but no, I am not that into anyone that much.

I have bought albums, but I won't spend money on a concert....I will buy a ticket to a movie, but I won't go across the street to meet an actor, I will rant and hoot for an athlete but i will never buy their ''jersey" much less wear one.

I am the worse fan....I like what you do, but I am not spending a goddamn dime of my money on you.

So...Bill Cosby....man...I liked that guy...really really loved the guy. Admired his work...admired his ethic, admired all what he had to over come and became...

fuck man... breaks my heart. I put him on a pedestal.

[PickelledEggs]

I heard about this. It's such a huge smack in the face to us that grew up watching The Cosby Show and loved his stand up...

It's almost unreal....

[GrinningYMIR]

If all of what's being said is true, than I am deeply saddened. I always looked up to him, I thought he was an upstanding guy, one who only wanted the best for people, all people, black white or whatever.

But all of this, I hope it isn't true, I really do, because he is...was.. one of the few actors I legitimately thought of as a good person, a real good person.

It makes me very sad to think about it, one of the reasons why I've been avoiding stories about it for the most part

[Solitary]

If it's not true, it is even worse, because people will assume he's guilty, and not innocent. If he is guilty, he deserves worse then what he will get if it was that many, in my opinion. I wonder how many men in Hollywood have done the same.

[Munch]

Maybe its not worth jumping the gun on this yet.

Obviously we are now living in a time of greater police investigation and crime units who can even look back and determine if something happened or not. The cases of Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Mike Tyson are open and shut cases, but until proven this thing with cosby could just be someone trying to play off of the recent hunt for these old celebrities who did the dirty.

honestly, I predict in the next 10 years all childhood icons from my childhood will all have been pedophiles.

[PickelledEggs]

Maybe its not worth jumping the gun on this yet.

Obviously we are now living in a time of greater police investigation and crime units who can even look back and determine if something happened or not. The cases of Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Mike Tyson are open and shut cases, but until proven this thing with cosby could just be someone trying to play off of the recent hunt for these old celebrities who did the dirty.

honestly, I predict in the next 10 years all childhood icons from my childhood will all have been pedophiles.

There are a lot of people, including Raven Simone that are saying this is just a "disgusting rumor".

[Solitary]

Even Charles Manson said he is being railroaded. 

[stromboli]

I'll withhold judgment until I know for sure he is guilty. All these women supposedly, yet he was never convicted of anything, and now it is, I believe, past the statute of limitations on the crimes. I'm in the innocent until proven guilty camp.

But like you, Aitm, I've never been one to idolize people. Too jaded and been disappointed too many times.

[aitm]

It is my opinion that he and "The Cosby Show" was a defining moment in american culture that gave tens of millions of white youth and adults an understanding that black people were just like "white people". It had a tremendous influence on helping millions overcome their childhood racism and bigotry, for that I am thankful.....and admit that I feel less inclined to pile on... and that bothers me even more that I would consider the crimes worthy of looking the other way because he did so much. Does the overall good overcome the "evil"? Wow, talk about a smack in the face to my pre-conceived notions of sexual assault and how I view it. Maybe its due to the time lapse. I need to be punched.

[Solitary]

We will never know if he did, or not, unless he confesses, but it would be a real shame if he did, for the reasons you stated that are true. 

[stromboli]

It is my opinion that he and "The Cosby Show" was a defining moment in american culture that gave tens of millions of white youth and adults an understanding that black people were just like "white people". It had a tremendous influence on helping millions overcome their childhood racism and bigotry, for that I am thankful.....and admit that I feel less inclined to pile on... and that bothers me even more that I would consider the crimes worthy of looking the other way because he did so much. Does the overall good overcome the "evil"? Wow, talk about a smack in the face to my pre-conceived notions of sexual assault and how I view it. Maybe its due to the time lapse. I need to be punched.

All true, and this issue at this time does not help with the attitudes now felt about the Ferguson Missouri situation or any of the other racially dividing issues ongoing in our country. This is a man who was awarded the Freedom medal, the highest civilian award in the country. Very damaging in a big way.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Sorry Cos..not much of a fan and I'm like aitm when it comes to celebrities.. Unless they're knocking at my door with a suitcase full of cash for me I could care less if they get run over by a cement truck crossing the street to shake my hand.
My only brush with celebrity was when Lou Rawls bummed a cigarette from me outside of a nightclub in LA way back when I joined the moonies and I didn't know who he was till we started talking and to this day he still owes me a cigarette..

To add. To bad the rest of us don't have the luxury of having a PR department to sanitize all the shitty little things we do in our lives, but celebrities do and those departments go out of their way to portray their clients as nothing short of saintly..

[Solitary]

You haven't met the right celebrities, like I have, or you wouldn't feel that way. My wife and I met Henry Fonda when Disney World opened the very first day, and wanted my wife in a commercial he was making while ridding on Dumbo, because of the way her long light reddish brown hair looked blowing backwards.  He was as nice a guy I have ever met, and he was a sick as a dog that day, and died soon after.

[stromboli]

There are good celebrities just like there are good people. A former coworker of mine used to run a gas station in Nevada. Audie Murphy used to gas up his vehicles there, because he had a ranch nearby. He would stop in, shoot the shit, buy strangers coffee and would give rides to hitch hikers. George Clooney has spent millions helping people caught up in warfare in Darfur and the Sudan, and he is an atheist. Likewise Brad Pitt has done a lot of charity work and Jolie has been a spokesman for abused women in 3rd world countries.

I never equated celebrity with goodness or badness. No doubt some get caught up in their own celebrity-like Chuck Norris-but there are many who can look past that and just be people.

[Green Bottle]

There are good celebrities just like there are good people. A former coworker of mine used to run a gas station in Nevada. Audie Murphy used to gas up his vehicles there, because he had a ranch nearby. He would stop in, shoot the shit, buy strangers coffee and would give rides to hitch hikers. George Clooney has spent millions helping people caught up in warfare in Darfur and the Sudan, and he is an atheist. Likewise Brad Pitt has done a lot of charity work and Jolie has been a spokesman for abused women in 3rd world countries.

I never equated celebrity with goodness or badness. No doubt some get caught up in their own celebrity-like Chuck Norris-but there are many who can look past that and just be people.

Agree man, there are some celebrities out there that do good things for the sake of it and not for the publicity they might get , Bob Geldoff for instance.