I Feel Betrayed by Bill

When I was a kid I used to watch Fat Albert all the time. I thought Bill Cosby was the funniest person ever way back then. I watched the show so much that Bill Cosby felt like an uncle to me. I know that sounds strange but that was the kind of impression he made on me. I even enjoyed his Jell-O and pudding commercials that seemed to be on the TV every hour of every day. In the 80's, I was watching The Cosby Show every week just like everyone else and thought Bill was great in that too. As I got older, I heard some of his stand-up comedy routines and laughed my ass off. I even watched the TV show Kids Say the Darndest Things just because Bill Cosby was the host. Just his facial expression alone made that show very entertaining.

Years ago, maybe 10 years back, my wife Chris (girlfriend at the time) and I and a bunch of our friends went up to Turning Stone to see Bill Cosby do a live stand-up routine. I should say it was sit down routine because he sat through the whole thing. We were so close that his feet were only about a foot away from my wife's face. In fact, at one point he stopped his show and apologize to Chris for having his feet that close to her face. He said, "I'm sure you didn't pay all that money to sit in the front row just to smell a black man's feet all night". He was hilarious. I remember my side hurting because I was laughing so hard.

So I always liked Bill Cosby, and when the accusations of him drugging and then raping women started coming out I thought there's no way Bill Cosby can do this. Then a few more women made accusations. And this week Bill was found guilty in Pennsylvania on three counts of aggravated indecent assault according to the New York Times.

I now understand how family members of people who commit heinous crimes are always quoted as saying 'I would never have expected a family member of mine to be capable of doing something like this'. I am deeply disappointed in my "uncle", Bill Cosby.

[via The New York Times]