Bill Cosby appeared outside the courthouse after his conviction on three counts of aggravated indecent assault void of emotion, expression, and all the charm that the now-disgraced all-American TV dad once had.
The 80-year-old has never had much to say outside of simply denying the allegations, regarding the mounting allegations that stem back several decades. He did state, however, that the encounter with Constand, the woman at the center of the retrial, was consensual.
For the African American community, it is particularly difficult to think that their favorite TV dad who taught them life lessons from how to treat people, navigate life, and make others laugh could be reduced to a criminal.
Erykah Badu and her now infamous comments she made in an interview with Vulture earlier this year stated, “I love Bill…and I love what he’s done for the world…but if he’s sick, why would I be angry with him?”
Badu even referenced the ladies who alleged that Cosby sexually assaulted them, stating, “The people who got hurt, I feel so bad for them. I want them to feel better, too. But sick people do evil things; hurt people hurt people. I know I could be crucified for saying that because I’m supposed to be on the purple team or the green team.”
The #MeToo movement can consider this a victory as they continue to make strides to bring awareness to the plight of victims of sexual assault. In a statement to CNN, the founder of #MeToo said, “People have been using the term culture shift since MeToo went viral in 2017, but I think this verdict might be the first steps we’ve seen toward the way our culture views and thinks about survivors and sexual violence.”
With many other high-profile celebrity men who have sexual assault allegations looming, Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein, to name two, time will tell what impact Cosby’s guilty verdict coupled with the ever-growing momentum of the #MeToo movement will have on future cases.
