THE MASK (WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COSBY)

A lot of masks have slipped in the entertainment industry in recent times - particularly around sexual abuse.

In Britain, entertainers like Gary Glitter, Stuart Hall and Rolf Harris were exposed and convicted as paedophiles.

In the case of Jimmy Savile that exposure came unfortunately too late for his many victims.

In the US, R Kelly was convicted in 2001 of the sexual exploitation of a child, while the actor Jeffrey Jones pleaded no contest to charges of possessing child pornography.

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The Oscar winning director Roman Polanski continues to live in exile to avoid prosecution for the molestation and statutory rape of a 13 year old girl in Los Angeles.

On both sides of the Atlantic, public figures have been embroiled in prosecutions and, in some cases, convictions for sexual assault and rape.

Harvey Weinstein's crimes are among the most infamous, inspiring Maria Schrader's powerful movie 'She Said' last year which focused on the New York Times investigation into his behaviour.

Among this group, Bill Cosby's conviction also stands out because it was arguably the most jaw dropping.

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For over five decades, Cosby enjoyed a special status in American entertainment as a popular comedian, actor, producer, philanthropist and champion of education. 

He achieved fame during the 1960s as the US wrestled with the shame of centuries of racial oppression and segregation and as it faced up to the need for Civil Rights legislation.

Like Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, Cosby had the ability to appeal to audiences of all racial backgrounds - initially avoiding directly addressing racism in his stand-up comedy routines.

He enjoyed a succession of hit television shows, movies, stand-up comedy albums and tours.

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At the height of his fame with 'The Cosby Show' in the 1980s and early 90s, he even became known as "America's dad".

Cosby spent considerable time acquiring a reputation for being socially progressive, using his celebrity to promote racial integration and the transformational power of education - particularly in the African American community.

Then in the mid 2000s, a deluge of sexual assault claims surfaced against him that would destroy his career and result in his conviction.

A picture emerged of a sociopath with a pattern of drugging women before sexually assaulting them.

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While Cosby vehemently denied the allegations, he was convicted in April 2018 of the aggravated sexual assault in Pennsylvania of a former Canadian basketball player Andrea Constand after an initial mistrial.

After spending three years in prison, he successfully appealed his conviction in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in June 2021 on the grounds that his rights were violated because evidence he gave in a civil case about drugging Constand and other women was used against him in his criminal case despite assurances from the District Attorney that it wouldn't be admissable.

 

This was hardly a vindication, though, for an entertainer who has faced allegations of sexual assault, rape and battery from up to 60 women, spanning 1965 to 2007.

As a result of the furore, dozens of honorary degrees conferred on him by US universities have been rescinded and his name has been removed from fellowships.

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It is in this highly charged atmosphere that the stand-up comedian W Kamau Bell has waded into the story with a four part docuseries for Showtime.

'We Need To Talk About Cosby,' which aired in the US in January 2022 and in the UK 14 months later, is a bit of a tightrope walk as Bell forensically examines the entertainer's career to understand how a role model could be accused of so many acts of sexual violence.

Providing the narration, Bell is painfully honest about his ambivalence towards his subject.

He recognises the many good things Cosby did in the public eye but asks, like the Netflix documentary 'Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story,' if these were done to atone for other sins?

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So while Cosby's breakthrough role in 'I Spy,' his behind the scenes lobbying for African American stunt artists and his children's television are applauded, the filmmaker and narrator notes his friendship with Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner also stood at odds with the image of a family man.

Raised on a diet of Cosby's work, Bell examines the star's act to see if, like Savile, there is evidence of an abuser hiding in plain sight.

He uncovers disturbing material - a stand-up routine from 1969 about "Spanish Fly" is particularly chilling in the context of the accusations that followed decades later.

There's a rather fanciful section where Bell hypothesises on what might have happened to Cosby's career if his 1981 box office bomb 'The Devil and Max Devlin' with Elliott Gould in which he played Satan hadn't flopped.

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However the most important service Bell provides in this docuseries is giving a voice to Cosby's victims.

The filmmaker allows women to tell their stories of how they were groomed, hoodwinked, drugged and abused.

The accusers include Victoria Valentino who tells how she was drugged and raped in 1969 after Cosby invited her and a friend to his place a few weeks after her young son drowned in a swimming pool tragedy.

Eden Tirl gives an account of how two decades later she was assaulted while appearing on 'The Cosby Show'.

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These and other victims provide powerful and disturbing stories about the trauma of sexual assault, the cover-up and the impact of justice denied.

In an era where social media influencers, actors and rappers are still being accused of using their celebrity status to perpetrate heinous acts of sexual violence, Bell's docuseries serves as an important warning shot to those who could be easily taken in by predators in the entertainment industry who turn a blind eye.

It also makes a powerful argument for victims to be empowered to report such crimes rather than deterred from giving evidence.

Damn right we need to talk about Cosby and others in the public eye whose careers have been stained by their terrible misdeeds. 

('We Need To Talk About Cosby' was broadcast in the UK on BBC2 from March 5-26, 2023)