Entertainment

Bill Cosby’s Public Moralizing Was His Undoing

Published

11 years ago

July 8, 2015

This Nov. 11, 2014, file photo shows entertainer and Navy veteran Bill Cosby speaking during a Veterans Day ceremony, at the The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, Bill Cosby cast himself as America’s dad and then as America’s granddad, a moralist with tough talk for young people about acting responsibly. It was that image that proved to be his undoing.

The judge who unsealed documents on Monday revealing Cosby’s 2005 admission that he obtained quaaludes to give to young women before sex cited the comedian’s public moralizing in deciding to release the testimony.

The testimony, from a decade-old lawsuit, has called into question Cosby’s denials that he drugged and sexually assaulted women.

Cosby had fought the request from The Associated Press to unseal the material.

But U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno in Philadelphia ruled: “The stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist, and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct, is a matter to which the AP — and by extension the public — has a significant interest.”

Cosby’s moralizing also triggered the most recent round of allegations by more than two dozen women who say he assaulted them. Last October, 31-year-old comedian Hannibal Buress set off the storm when he noted the contrast between Cosby’s image and the accusations.

“He gets on TV, ‘Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the ’80s! I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom!'” Buress said. “Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches.”

As leader of television’s Huxtable clan in the 1980s, Cosby was the dad who did things right. It was a persona that made him beloved and rich.

And Cosby gave back. He and wife Camille offered millions in donations to colleges and other institutions across the country, including $20 million to Spelman College in 1988. He also freely gave advice and opinions on society’s failings, which weren’t welcomed as much as the money.

One such commentary, a decade ago during a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision on segregated schools, was cited by Robreno in his ruling. Cosby criticized a lack of parenting among poor families, complaining about young people’s poor speech, dress and dropout rates.

It was labeled the “pound cake” speech for this passage: “Looking at the incarcerated, these are not political criminals,” Cosby said. “These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake! Then we all run out and are outraged: ‘The cops shouldn’t have shot him.’ What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?”

Cosby has aggressively sought to protect his public image as accusations came forth. His representatives have cast doubt on his accusers, and Cosby sought to get an AP reporter who had asked about them not to use his comments.

He also testified in the 2005 case that he granted the National Enquirer an interview about accusations against him in exchange for the tabloid squelching another story about an alleged assault.

Even before Monday’s release of testimony, the allegations had severely damaged Cosby’s career. NBC walked away from plans to make another Cosby sitcom, TV Land took reruns of “The Cosby Show” off the air, and Netflix shelved plans for a Cosby standup special.

Cosby mounted a standup comedy tour that was dotted with cancellations, and no further appearances are scheduled, according to the industry trade publication Pollstar.

The Bounce TV network, which is geared toward black viewers, announced Tuesday that it is taking its reruns of “Cosby,” the comic’s 1990s-era CBS show, off the air immediately.

And the smaller Centric cable network, which is affiliated with BET and aimed at black women, said it is dropping “The Cosby Show.” The 1980s NBC series was a big chunk of Centric’s schedule, airing four hours a day and in weekend marathons once a month.

It doesn’t appear that “The Cosby Show” is airing regularly anywhere else now in the U.S., said Bill Carroll, an expert on the syndication market for Katz Television. He said he doubts it will return while its star, who turns 78 on Sunday, is alive.

“You never say never,” he said. “But I think in the foreseeable future, I doubt we’re going to see ‘The Cosby Show’ returning.”

It remains to be seen how many minds the newly released testimony will change. But actress and Philadelphia native Jill Scott, who had publicly supported Cosby last fall, said she was “completely disgusted” by what he had to say under oath.

“I stood by a man I respected and loved,” Scott said via Twitter. “I was wrong.”

____

Associated Press correspondent Michael Sisak in Philadelphia and Television Writer Lynn Elber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

____

Follow David Bauder at twitter.com/dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder.

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

2 days ago

July 5, 2026

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Arts and Culture

Prescott Circus Theatre Presents Free Summer Performance Series

Now in its 41st year, the Prescott Circus Theatre is a nationally recognized performing arts education program for Oakland youth. The circus offers safe environments that challenge Oakland youth, through circus arts training, to develop the skills and confidence to thrive on stage, in school, and in life.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Prescott Circus showcase pathways pyramid. Photo courtesy of Prescott Circus.

By Post Staff

The Prescott Circus, Oakland’s longest-running youth circus, is returning this summer with its free shows. Join the Prescott Circus’s young stars as they share their joys and talents through stilt-dancing, tumbling, juggling, and more.

At the heart of this one-hour show, which demonstrates teamwork, pride, and joy, are Oakland Unified School District students ages 8 – 17 from more than 10 different schools

This is accomplished through no-cost school and community programs for more than 300 Oakland youth each year. Performing company members from Prescott, where the program began, perform and make appearances at as many as 40 Bay Area events each year.

The summer program is funded in part by Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, California Arts Council, Port of Oakland, and the West Davis & Bergard Foundation.

Performances will be held Tuesday, July 14, 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (ASL interpreted) and Wednesday, July 15, 11 a.m., at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. For free reservations go to

https://PrescottCircusSummerShows.eventbrite.com

For group reservations for camps, childcare centers, senior centers, go to www.prescottcircus.org

A community show will be held Saturday, July 18, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., at DeFremery Park,1651 Adeline St., Oakland.

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50 Years Later, ‘Wake Up Everybody!’ Still Resonates During Black Music

The words of the song, “Wake Up Everybody,” debuted by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in 1975, still resonate today as those words are just as relevant more than a half century later.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

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By Hazel Trice Edney, Special to The Post

Hazel Trice Edney

“Wake up, everybody, No more sleepin’ in bed

No more backward thinkin’. Time for thinkin’ ahead

The world has changed so very much from what it used to be.

There is so much hatred, war, and poverty.

“The world won’t get no better If we just let it be.

Naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw.

The world won’t get no better. We gotta change it, yeah– just you and me.”

The words of the song, “Wake Up Everybody,” debuted by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in 1975, still resonate today as those words are just as relevant more than a half century later.

In a rare, nearly somber moment, the group’s celebrated lead singer, Teddy Pendergrass, introduced the song on Soul Train, the weekly dance and live performance TV show that aired roughly between 1971 and 2006. Pendergrass told the attentive live audience and thousands watching by television that Wake Up Everybody, the title tune of their most recent album, was intended to inspire people to take action with a goal to change America for the better.

“I’m sure that you will all agree that there are things that need to be done in this country today,” he said. “So, what I’d like for you to do is listen very carefully to see what you can do to lend a hand.”

The song’s appeal worked.

“I played that song over and over and over again because it was a constant warning to keep ourselves prepared for the society that we were living in,” says A. Peter Bailey, then a 37-year-old former aide to Malcolm X.

When “Wake Up Everybody” hit the airwaves, Bailey was working as an associate editor of Ebony Magazine. “It was a call to be aware of what we were dealing with in the country that we lived in, the world we lived in, the neighborhood we lived in, the cities that we lived in,” Bailey said in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire.

He concluded that during Black Music Month 2026, such songs should be recalled and celebrated as a key to changes for the good across America; especially because such songs successfully encouraged people to deal with the issues that might otherwise denigrate the promises of America, including the promise that “All men are created equal,”as stated in the Declaration of Independence.

“The rhythms and blues expressed our joys, our sorrows and our fears,” Bailey recalls. “It was those songs and the singing of those songs by our people that attracted us to the campaigns for justice.”

With his life inspired by that song and others, Bailey, now 88, went on to establish and teach a Black Press class at Virginia Commonwealth University. Also, he has since written three books, including a memoir, “Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher,” in which he expounded upon successful principles of social justice, some of which are reflected in “Wake Up Everybody.”

Long before the term “woke” became associated with campaigns for justice, Pendergrass led the song that reverberated across America and still holds deep meaning.

The ‘wake up’ call exhorts teachers to ‘teach a new way,’ doctors to heal elders, and builders to ‘build a new land… we can do it if we all lend a hand.”

The song concludes:

“The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. Naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw. The world won’t get no better. We gotta change it, yeah – just you and me.”

Hazel Trice Edney wrote this story as part of a four-part series powered by AARP in commemoration of Black Music Month, June 2026.