The Disgraced Legend

The beloved father figure, the man who for decades has entertained North America with his quick and clever self-deprecating wit has lost none of his adept capacity to extricate a situation. On his Canadian tour in Kitchener, London and Hamilton, the venues were not exactly sold out, but there were enough diehard fans present to inform the man that his legend as a master of comedic routine surpasses, for them, his newer reputation as a brutal rapist, oblivious to the harm he has done to women.



The crowd in attendance to hear the man elegantly play to his audience and deliver their money's-worth, visualize the man he once represented to them, an articulate, clever wordsmith with the exquisite timing it takes to represent as a first-class stand-up comic. Clearly, the anguish suffered by the women upon whom he preyed was of little concern to them. Thirty women could likely in their opinion, be delusional; Bill Cosby is one-of-a-kind, and as a performer it is he they trust to tell it the way it is.

And, in fact, it's just the way he did tell it. On Wednesday at his Kitchener performance he was the consummate performer, not a whisper of the infamy that has followed him, unless one considers the protesters rallied outside the performance venues holding up their signs and verbally berating those who had entered for the evening's entertain. But on Thursday, although the same setting presented itself with protesters and venue attendees immune to the accusations that took place in London, an allusion that more than validates the charges emanated from his very lips.

When a woman rose from her choice front row seat to walk out, the performer asked where she was going halfway through his performance. To get herself a drink, she responded; would he like one himself? The pleasantry continued with his declining, then adding "You have to be careful about drinking around me", an assertion beyond amusing, entering the precincts of self-admission as a groper, drugging women who would otherwise spurn his advances, to rape them.

National Post

The initial "Oohs" were followed by wild applause for the masterful turn of reference and phrasing, denying nothing, admitting all, by allusion. And then someone in the audience shouted, "We love you Bill!", to more applause until one young man  called out in denial, "We don't love you, Bill", and we don't. The second man was roughly ushered out of the venue and he shouted as security escorted him out "You're a rapist. I'm being ejected because you're a rapist!"

The accusations have not been stilled. The accusations steadily grow; women who were intimidated, ashamed, fearful for their futures, traumatized by the brutality of their experience, have found the courage to face what had occurred to them, and are still coming forward. This is one among too many legends that is struggling to rise above the infamy its star has brought upon himself; a lesson in the arrogant entitlement of a celebrity wit.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Lynett    Ticket-holders watch as protesters demonstrate outside of the Hamilton Place Theatre ahead of a performance by Bill Cosby in Hamilton, Ont., Friday, Jan. 9, 2015.