You let us All Down Bill

I'm not one of these guys that thinks celebrities are role models or owe us anything.  The problem with Bill Cosby is that he embraced the role of morality police officer.  

He was America's dad.  I can see it clear as day.  I'd sit and wait for the Cosby show to come on TV at night to get a dose of some wholesome American comedy.  I'd listen to his comedy specials on my dad's record player.  Yes vinyl.  Before vinyl was a fetish item for hipsters from Brooklyn it was the only way to listen to music or comedy at home on demand.  Bill Cosby was easy to relate to because he talked about family.  He made fun of his kids without saying anything nasty and making every mom and dad in America think about their own kids and laugh.  He sold us pudding and gave us:  "Kids say the darndest things."  Bill Cosby was a great American success story.  Because he was a success it was hard not to listen to him in his later years on tour at colleges around the country giving straight talk on how to deal with our children in a modern society.

We ate it up.  What could be wrong with Bill telling us how to live our lives.  He seems to have gotten a lot of his life right.  Then out of nowhere last year the allegations start flooding in about sexual assault.  This according to my friends who are stand up comedians for a living is the worst kept secret in the entertainment world but news to the rest of us.  Now he has finally been officially charged with a sex crime.

I wanted to be one of these people that says I don''t believe the allegations.  My brain and experience tell me otherwise.  The stories are all the same.  Bill let us down not because he did wrong but because he had the audacity to preach to us for years while he was doing wrong.