'Public Moralist' Cosby's Iconic Fall

Suddenly Bill Cosby has become the Confederate battle flag of the entertainment world. Everybody seems to want to take him down.

For months the iconic showman's defenders have tried to dismiss the parade of women who have accused the now 77-year-old of drugging, raping and otherwise sexually molesting them.

But now his own testimony in a 2005 civil case, unsealed by a judge after an Associated Press request, reveals a creepier Cosby than anyone wanted to know.

And that raises new questions for those who, like me, have defended Cosby's nationwide moral crusade over the past decade, even when his sarcasm toward poor black folks sometimes took on the abusive tone of an Internet troll.

Significantly it was Cosby's famous "Pound Cake speech," as it has become known, at an NAACP event in 2004 that led U.S. District Court Judge Eduardo C. Robreno of Pennsylvania to release the testimony.

In that speech, the world-famous comedian urged his fellow African-Americans to stop blaming racism for their woes as he criticized single mothers, low-slung pants and unconventional names on black children.

"These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake," he said in a widely-quoted passage. "Then we all run out and are outraged, 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"

I would not have used language as grumpy or abrasive as his. But if anyone could get away with it while delivering a worthwhile message, it was the legendary Bill Cosby, a black pioneer and crossover star on stage, screen, TV, comedy albums and Jell-O commercials since the 1960s.

Yet by taking a stance as a "public moralist," Judge Robreno(cq) argued, Cosby had "voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy that he is entitled to claim" as a public figure.

"The stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct, is a matter as to which the AP -- and by extension the public -- has a significant interest," Robreno wrote.

Now we know that those documents included a deposition in which Cosby admitted under oath to buying prescriptions of the sedative Quaaludes to give to young women in order to have sex.

As for the question, "Did you ever give any of those young women the Quaaludes without their knowledge?" Before Cosby could respond, the deposition shows, his lawyer interrupted with an objection.

After that, Cosby's team clammed up even more. He has not been charged with a crime, and the statute of limitations has run out on most of the accusations. But he is still vulnerable to civil suits, which could explain his refusal to talk about any of the allegations.

Worse, the court of public opinion has turned against his iconic image, ironically in the same week as South Carolina's historic removal of the Confederate battle flag from public grounds. Cherished icons fall hard, even when they outlive their heroic narratives.

Old Cosby reruns have been taken off the air. Disney has removed his statue from its Hollywood theme park in Orlando. He has been dropped by his talent agency and a rising campaign wants to revoke his Presidential Medal of Freedom.

I get no joy out of Cosby's downfall. I feel even worse for his wife, Camille. She deserves far better than this humiliation.

After Cosby's "Pound Cake" speech, I appreciated how he turned the controversy into a national dialogue with town hall meetings and local black community leaders across the country. It was important that we African-Americans, in particular, remind ourselves that we always have had important self-help resources that we too often take for granted.

Cosby put a badly needed spotlight on neighborhood organizers and grassroots self-help programs that don't make much news, even when their programs do a lot of good to reduce crime, educate kids and strengthen families. Whatever else happens to his reputation, it is up to the rest of us to keep alive the hopes that he raised.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)