“America’s Dad” does not have the connotation that it once did, and W. Kamau Bell wants us to acknowledge that.
Bill Cosby will the subject of W. Kamau Bell and Showtime’s latest docu-series We Need to Talk About Cosby. A trailer for the 4 part series was sent out to the internet on Monday. W. Kamau Bell is best known for his stand up comedy and social-political TV shows including CNN’s United Shades of America and FX’s Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.
The Emmy winning W. Kamau Bell states his opening thoughts quite aptly in the teaser trailer below.
Showtime – We Need To Talk About Cosby
I am a child of Bill Cosby…you know what I mean.
A Black Man, and a comic born in the 70s. Bill Cosby had to be one of my heroes.
But this?
This was f****d up.
The docu-series, according to its press release, will dive deep into “the complex story of Cosby’s life and work, weighing his actions against his indisputable global influence through interviews with comedians, cultural commentators, journalists and women who share their most personal, harrowing encounters with Cosby. Through archival footage, Cosby reveals who he may have been all along—the antithesis of the principled, public figure who became a hero, not only to African American people but to all people.”
The docu-series will also give viewers “the chance to reconsider Cosby’s mark in a society where rape culture, toxic masculinity, capitalism and white supremacy are shaping how we re-evaluate sex, power and agency”.
From the trailer we can see multiple public figures like journalist Jemele Hill, political activist Marc Lamont Hill , and comedian Godfrey give testimonies on their feelings about the widely sore subject. Bill Cosby was once referred as “America’s Dad” while The Cosby Show aired. The Huxtables and company were the most watched family in the United States for 5 years straight, according to Nielsen data. The impact of the show spawned so many opportunities for Black stories to be shared on a global front.
The legacy of the show is not in question, the show’s patriarchal figure is.
Bill Cosby has been accused, tried, convicted and acquitted as a defendant for sexual assault allegations. These allegations have led to testimonies from over 60 women who believe that they were sexually assaulted by Cosby. It wasn’t until 2004 when Andrea Constand filed a lawsuit against Cosby where she claimed that he had drugged and sexually assaulted her.
Cosby was charged in December 2015 with three counts of aggravated indecent sexual assault. Bill Cosby’s original sentence of 3 to 10 years, was reduced after serving 3 years. Recently, the prosecution in the case has been trying to nudge the U.S. Supreme Court to consider reinstating Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction. Bill Cosby is now 84 years of age, and his health has been declining rapidly.
W. Kamau Bell had this to add to the press release,
As a child of Bill Cosby, I was a huge fan of all his shows and wanted to be a comedian because of him.
I never thought I’d ever wrestle with who we all thought Cosby was and who we now understand him to be.
I’m not sure he would want me to do this work, but Cliff Huxtable definitely would.
We Need To Talk About Cosby will premiere at Sundance Film Festival on January 22, just ahead of its Showtime release on January 30.
