Cosby’s ‘America’s dad’ legacy: ‘Vaporized’
Sexual assault conviction completes an epic fall
Bill Cosby’s conviction on three counts of sexual assault puts a final dagger in a damaged — but undeniably extensive — pop culture legacy.
The 80-year-old actor broke racial barriers with I Spy in the late 1960s, enticed millions of kids to eat Jell-O pudding starting in the late ’70s and reignited the sitcom (and NBC) with The Cosby Show, which ranked as TV’s top series for five years in the late 1980s. Poof. That’s all vanished.
Even before his conviction, “a young college student probably best knows Bill Cosby as that guy who got accused of all those horrible things,” says Robert Thompson, a professor of TV history at Syracuse University. Unlike other icons plagued by lesser scandals, from Martha Stewart to Mel Gibson, the case is “not just a footnote on his legacy; it’s an enormous cloud that completely covers his legacy.”
Adds a blunt-spoken Tom Nunan, a former UPN network president who
Bill Cosby’s conviction is “not just a footnote on his legacy; it’s an enormous cloud that completely covers his legacy.” Robert Thompson Professor of TV history, Syracuse University
now teaches at UCLA: “Bill Cosby was once known as America’s dad. Now, he’ll forever be known as America’s rapist. And that’s the fact.
“There may be an appeal, but his reputation is forever scarred appropriately.”
Former TV executive and author Tim Brooks calls Cosby “fairly unique in television history in terms of the fall of what had once been a major star.” Many fans “separate out the personal lives of stars from who they are professionally,” but not this time, he says, calling Cosby “kind of television’s O.J.” Simpson.
Some observers argue that the tarnish would have stuck to Cosby even with an acquittal, as it did to Simpson after his murder trial. But it stains more considering Cosby’s persona as an avuncular everyman, and for a long stretch, America’s favorite dad.
“What he was so well known for was playing these characters of great dignity ( I Spy), great gentle humanity and paternal qualities ( The Cosby Show), and this is so completely the opposite,” Thompson says. “It would be like suddenly hearing a scandal about Santa Claus. You’ve got a person who was really important in the history of the development of the medium; a person who was the star of the one of the most popular programs of all time, who rescued a network; (but) someone who was playing (a character) completely at odds” with the stories told by his accusers.
Cosby, whose stand-up comedy soothed racial tensions in the 1960s, segued to an acting career as the first black drama lead, playing half of an interracial duo of secret agents in NBC’s I Spy. He went on to Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, an animated 1970s series about inner-city kids, and his biggest success as Dr. Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show, which ran for eight seasons and spawned a spinoff series. (He later reteamed with co-star Phylicia Rashad, playing a grumpy retiree on the late ’90s CBS sitcom Cosby).
“When he was doing advertising for Jell-O, it was magical,” says Allen Adamson, cofounder of Metaforce, a marketing consultancy, and a longtime branding expert.
“His persona was perfect for products; everyone wanted Bill Cosby associated with their brand, because he was clever, funny, down to earth and had the illusion of being a model celebrity. All of that is vaporized.” Quite literally.
“I’d venture to guess you’re not going to see any of these TV shows he’s been in any more,” says Brad Adgate, a media consultant and former ad exec. “I don’t think advertisers would want to support it.” (Bounce TV, a small broadcaster, said Thursday that it had yanked reruns of The Cosby Show, and NBC’s plans to develop a new sitcom with Cosby a few years ago never materialized.)
Can viewers separate the show from the scandal?
One of the producers behind the show, who along with Cosby made millions from it, hoped so when multiple allegations had surfaced against Cosby by 2015. “I’m hoping as time passes that people still will be able to enjoy the show, because it’s more than just about Bill Cosby,” Tom Werner told USA TODAY then. “It was about a family.”
That seems unlikely.