If anyone has ever doubted the power of Google, just say three words. “Bill Cosby Rape.” In just over a month, just these three words have been able to tear down a career that took decades for the noted actor, comedian, philanthropist, author and more to build. Since fellow comedian Hannibal Buress first delivered these words as a part of a show in Cosby’s hometown Philadelphia on October 16, video of the show went viral, heightening interest in what Buress claimed…

I admit that I first came across an article in which the author alleged that Cosby had coerced several women to have sexual contact with him about three weeks ago. I quickly scanned the article but dismissed it an Internet hoax and or outright hogwash because Bill Cosby is Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable to me. And everyone in my generation knows that Dr. Huxtable is a noted obstetrician,  husband to wife, attorney Clair Huxtable née Hanks and father to their five children. Although Cliff and Clair were busy working parents, they took time to have fun together as a family. Remember when the family memorized a dance routine to Ray Charles’ “Night Time is the Right Time” to entertain Cliff’s parents as they celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary? And has having five children would suggest, Cliff and Claire took time for romance too, emanating unadulterated adoration as they gazed at each other listening to jazz greats like Betty Carter when she sang “Look What I Got.”

Dr. Huxtable is a proud graduate of the highly esteemed HBCU Hillman College and sent his daughter Denise, the original boho-chic fashionista, there. When she left the Huxtable nest, her college days were chronicled in “A Different World.” While at Hillman, Denise was schooled in the honor and high jinks characteristic of attending HBCUs although she didn’t graduate from the school. However, her friends Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert were able to carry on without her. In fact, they later married and moved to Japan when Dwayne got a job offer from Konichiwa.

Yes, these fictional characters became a part of my family. But now as these 16 women have recounted stories of starstruck naïveté, pills and forcible sexual encounters, I have been forced to extricate Bill Cosby from Healthcliff Huxtable. They are not one in the same. And I suppose that is one of the fallacies of fame – confusing an image with a person. Since the allegations have spread throughout the Internet, spawning by the day, FB friends have declared that they will no longer watch reruns of “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World,” networks have dropped the shows from their programming and while other people and entities have taken a more centric approach. I am a part of the latter group.

The journalist in me knows that 16 accounts of anything should be considered, particularly since the accounts seem to be similar. Many of the women themselves seem to similar (at least at the time they allege these encounters occurred) as they all paint a picture of Cosby as a powerful Hollywood player while they were young wannabe starlets eager to ascend with his influence. The home training advocate in me wonders just what did they think would be the end result of carousing alone with this married comedian. The realist in me wonders if the truth is also somewhere in the middle. Maybe Bill Cosby used his fame to attract the attention of these then young women under the guise of innocent fun. And maybe what happened between them was consensual until it wasn’t…

The fact of the matter is no matter what is proven in court or has not been proven in court or what Bill Cosby and his accusers have said or haven’t said, only Jesus is the ultimate and final arbiter of truth…

There are many Bible verses that I can list to support my point, but this verse comes to mind today…

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.  Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.

Any thoughts?

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