On Friday, Bill Cosby finally spoke out about the sexual assault allegations from close to 30 women on Good Morning America. Cosby, who appeared on the show to discuss his involvement with the Black Belt Foundation, seemed to want to focus on the education program, but GMA’s Linsey Davis broached the controversy Cosby has been avoiding.
“Are you prepared for the backlash if a young person comes up to you and says, ‘My mom said you’ve done some bad things?’” Davis asked Cosby.
“I’m not sure that they will come like that. I think that many of them say that ‘You’re a hypocrite. You say one thing. You say the other.’ My point is, ‘Listen to me carefully. I’m telling you where the road is out. Now you wanna go here or you wanna be concerned about who’s giving you the message,’” Cosby replied.
More than likely, the “hypocrite” comment stems from many people having called out Cosby in recent years because of his attitude toward some in the black community with his “pull up your pants” rhetoric, when all the while he was allegedly pulling people’s pants down while they were drugged.
Davis then attempted to delve further into the sexual assault allegations, only to have Cosby state that he couldn’t speak on them. “I have been in this business for 52 years. I’ve never seen anything like this. Reality is the situation. And I can’t speak,” Cosby said.
Members of the Black Belt Foundation were on hand during the interview, and more than likely they will speak more in-depth when the full interview airs Friday night on ABC News. The organization’s president, Felecia Lucky, did express her initial concern about Cosby’s involvement but said that educating people about the Black Belt was important.
“At the end of the day, what was most important was how do we make sure the world knows Black Belt children matter,” Lucky stated.
Where does all of this leave Cosby’s legacy? After years of his being America’s favorite dad, many have said that it will be forever tarnished. And when asked about his own legacy, Cosby had only one thing on his mind.
“I really know about what I’m going to do tomorrow. I have a ton of ideas to put on television about people and their love for each other,” Cosby said.
And by “tomorrow” he means Friday, when he’ll be in Selma, Ala., with the Black Belt Foundation to discuss the education of children in the area, as well as meet and march with high school students across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.