New poem: THE COSBY POEM

ONE
after the topsoil of alleged drugs,
alleged rape of unconscious victims,
and the awakenings and discoveries,
we now dig into the next level
of celebrity sediment:
talent and modeling agencies
supplying bodies to use-and-discard,
plus employees to run celebrity errands--
hold the great man's cigar
block the dressing room door
when "interviews" take place
find housing for mistresses
keep the great man's name
off the checks and money orders
excitement wears off
and the weariness of doing grubby chores
then the fear of being fired
by the no-longer-great man who once gave you
a personally signed photo
TWO
I HATE TO ASK THIS, BUT I HAVE TO!
SAY IT AIN'T SO, BILL!
repeated by nervous interviewers
on separate occasions
as Bill scowls and thunders:
SCUTTLE THIS, CUT THAT!
YOU SHOULD KNOW YOU'RE
NOT PRACTICING JOURNALISM!
DON'T MAKE ME CALL MY ATTORNEYS!
THREE
enjoyed the first BILL COSBY SHOW
with Bill as easygoing coach Chet Kincaid
as well as the first two or three years
of THE COSBY SHOW
before it grew smug and self-satisfied
liked to go to the Playboy Jazz Festival
when Cosby was the MC
and admired what he did for jazz
at the festival and on TV as well
fast-forward a few years
to when Ennis Cosby was murdered
and I gave money to the HELLO FRIEND charity
formed in his memory
cut to a few years later,
when Bill Cosby had his
maybe-or-maybe-not daughter
(by a woman who wasn't his wife Camille)
jailed for extortion
that was cold, I thought
even colder when Plutocrat Bill
started telling poor and middle-class people
IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT
AND YOUR KIDS ARE
KNUCKLEHEADS TOO!
way too frigid for me--
and for Hannibal Buress too
FOUR
someday, I'll be tempted to watch Bill Cosby
in something he acted in three to four decades ago
or revisit an old stand-up routine on YouTube
and I'll try to compartmentalize
he could be a fine actor and funny storyteller
when he wasn't preoccupied
with grinding people's lives
into topsoil

Bill Cosby, public and private.

Excerpted from a late-90s interview with Jamie Foxx (conducted by Neil Gladstone) for PHILADELPHIA CITYPAPER:

Have you spoken with Bill Cosby since he criticized Booty Call?

Yeah, I did. He was like [does Cosby voice]: "I know what they're tryin' ta get ya ta do, 'cause they had me do some things that wasn't so cool." He had good things to say and I understood where he was coming from. But it did get under my skin a bit when he went toNewsweek before telling me. He didn't have to single out Booty Call; there were a million movies that came out [that were just as bad], but he decided to pick on that one because it was a little sucessful. My point to him was, "Hey, we're comedians, this is what we do." I saw Mother, Jugs & Speed. I saw Leonard Part 6 where they had him riding an ostrich. Cosby had good points: one should strive to do better things. At the same time you've got to take what you can get to get to where you want to go.

Link to entire article: www.citypaper.net/articles/122597/20q.shtml

NEW YORK magazine timeline of Cosby's abuse charges:

http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/timeline-of-the-abuse-charges-against-cosby.html

Daily Mail Online article referring to Bill Cosby's recent sort-of-authorized biography:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2731076/Bill-Cosby-mistress-dumped-took-dinner-furious-mom-The-bizarre-moment-Americas-beloved-TV-dad-ditched-girlfriend-cheating-wife.html

Another accuser comes forward: http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2014/11/another-cosby-victim-comes/

11/19/14: Cosby's Robert Townsend-directed NETFLIX BILL COSBY 77 is pulled and the NBC sitcom development deal canceled according to Bill Carter of THE NEW YORK TIMES:

http://nyti.ms/1te80ss

CNN talks to Cosby's sort-of-authorized biographer as to why he wouldn't write about the rape allegations (excerpt below and full article at http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/14/showbiz/tv/bill-cosby-rape-allegations/: plus on-air interview with THE HUFINGTON POST: http://www.cambio.com/videos/cambio-on-aol/why-bill-cosbys-history-of-sexual-abuse-allegations-isnt-in-hi--518429565/)

As Mark Whitaker's recent Cosby biography makes clear, the man has his demons. He had affairs while on the road and there have been bumps in his long marriage to his wife, Camille.

But Whitaker, a former CNN managing editor, told CNN that he didn't feel comfortable airing the rape allegations.

"Basically, I knew that I was going to have to be very careful in what I said about his private life. I felt that way as a journalist and also for legal reasons," he said in an interview about the biography.

"In the case of these other allegations, basically because there were no definitive court findings, no independent witnesses, it didn't meet my standard for what I was going to put in the book."

"I also was very aware that if I just did a she said-he said, and I printed allegations and denials without my own independent reporting, first of all it's not really in the spirit in the book, but also every person who then reviewed or reported on the book would be free to repeat those unconfirmed allegations just because they were in my book. And I just didn't feel comfortable being responsible for that."

Still, the rape allegations are always just a mouse click away.

Random comments from the CNN website after the Steubenville rape trial verdicts.

Names of the commenters omitted here.  Comments presented intact.

What is remarkable, if only for its absence, is the discussion in the media about those who stood by and did nothing as this happened.
It's frightening to know that we live in a society where when people are in danger or being victimized the accepted social response is to break out the mobile phone and record it happening, rather than intervene. People will dial 911 to report a spanking at a mall, but not one of these teens thought to text or call someone to help this girl, or God forbid, speak up on her behalf?

The blame lies with and only with the sick little freaks who decided to rape this young woman, period, we as a society need to stop trying to blame the victims, and lay the blame at the feet of the sicko's in our midst. I am personally for castration of anyone who is convicted of rape, but perhaps that is just me.

Drunk or sober, no one should be violated. Just like people are trying to say that the boys were just stupid kids that did something stupid, so was she. What she didn't do however was violate another human being. She got drunk...a lot of people get drunk and don't get raped or violated just because they have indulged in too much alcohol. If I drank as much as witnesses say she did, I would not be sober enough to consent to sexual contact and I'm 41, so it's easy to see how someone her age and size could be completely incapacitated by the amount of alcohol in her system. Just because someone CAN NOT say no, doesn't mean yes. I have to wonder however about this series of parties that were going on where the alcohol was being consumed. If there were so many of them, where were all the adults in this town? Did they all go on vacation together and just leave all their teen aged children at home?

While I agree with you, she did break the law. She should also be punished. One could also argue that the boys fell prey to pressure and didn't realize that they were doing anything wrong. Some men aren't taught what consent actually means. I had to explain to a group of young boys what consent meant when this case occurred.

[Direct reply to the previous commenter]No, one really cannot "argue that the boys fell prey to pressure and didn't realize they were doing anything wrong." 16 and 17 are more than old enough to know that what they were doing was not just wrong, but a heinous crime. Rape is an act of violence. She was nothing more than a toy, a thing for them to abuse. They did not view her as a human being. They violated her willingly and in two different locations over a period of time There is no excuse for their behavior.. They are predators. They enjoyed what they were doing. They are criminals. One more thing, you think she should be punished for underage drinking? I find that incomprehensible that anyone would want to "punish" the victim of a rape for a misdemeanor.

So her rape, her body being posted all over the internet isn't punishment enough???

[Direct reply to the previous commenter] NO because these boy's lives were ruined by a classroom slut. they will never see a football career or any decent career because they will be branded as sex offenders. all because of what? a slut whose mom doesn't realize how loose her daughter is? try the same shit when she's in collage and they'll call it ''kids just having fun'' i hope the mother sees more of her whore daughter on the internet'

You see a stupid drunk girl laying down dirty drunk, and assume that because she is drunk she was raped. Where in any video or photo's that were shown does it show these two men raping her. One guy holding her by her hands, and the other holding her by her feet carrying her while she is fully clothed, does not constitute rape. Yes she was drunk, but who fault is it but hers

[Direct reply to the previous commenter]
Rape is an act of violence that objectifies another person, they used her as an object. Next you will say if a woman dresses slutty, or is out too late it is her fault if she is attacked. Why do we assume men have no self control and are unable to stop themselves from raping or assaulting if we tempt them too much? A kid who would do that, and send out pictures of it to laugh with his friends, has a long life of using and abusing women ahead of him. Women sometimes blame a victim because that makes them feel that they are not at risk because they would never do 'something so stupid.' Trust me, an entitled kid who feels he has the right to violate a woman and send pics out if not a safe person to be out and about, and he might not wait until a woman is drunk to do it. He is someone who believes that women are toys and are to be used for his entertainment. You need to try to babystep yourself into the present century.