I’m not going to speculate on the plethora of allegations against Mr. Cosby. That is not the point I want to focus on. I’ve never met Bill and so I do not feel I am qualified to judge his character. I want to talk about how this is an example of what happens when a culture allows a business, in this case entertainment, to hold so much value and influence.

For generations Bill Cosby has been synonymous with wholesome family entertainment from his earliest stand-up comedy to his many sitcoms, cartoons, and movies. Each routine and TV show illustrated the point in life where Bill was when it was performed – bachelorhood on through retirement. So, it stood to reason that Bill would have some entertaining material about getting old and falling apart. It’s that last stage of life and family isn’t it?

Well, that was the plan.

There was even a heated bidding war to sign Bill for this last hurrah project, because if done right it could have been a money machine. We  all know Bill isn’t shy about pimping out the sponsorship. He’ll drink a Coke. He’ll peddle that pudding. It doesn’t matter. Bill will push it. Who has expendable income right now? In a twist of cultural irony it is mostly the retirees. The exact viewing demographic that would have been the shows target audience. Imagine the revenue from prescription drug ads alone!

Well, NBC finally won the bidding war and there was some sort of Netflix contingent or something (entertainment law and contracts are beyond asinine, don’t get me started). Things were set. There was going to be more Cosby to watch in the future.

But.

Remember that money for one network means loss for the others. It’s not about sore losers. It’s about millions of dollars. Less than a calendar year after these deals were struck the allegations began. I’m not saying they’re false. I’m not saying they’re lies. But I would like to know why the convenient time frame? Some of these cases are over thirty years old! Doesn’t that strike you as odd? We have been in full blown Dirty Laundry mode when it comes to news since way before O.J. so why now?

Entertainment is a business folks. It’s not about wholesomeness. It’s not about wisdom, knowledge, learning, or furthering humanity. It is about making money off of consumers. Selling you shit you don’t need. End of story. Guilty or not. I can guarantee you that if Bill had gone quietly into retirement. If he hadn’t tried to toss his hat back into a ring where television is changing so dramatically with more and more people dropping cable service – that none of this would be in the news. Not one story of misconduct. He would have remained wholesome and innocent in the public eye forever and ever.

No. This is the Cosby Effect. This is my point. Greed will destroy everything you’ve built.

~Nick Shamhart

2/26/15