Not everybody is convinced of embattled comedian Bill Cosby’s guilt. Despite the alarming similarities in the claims by the women who’ve accused Cosby of predatory behavior, a few lonely voices are urging caution and due process. On The View, a careful Rosie Perez said that in canceling their dealings with Cosby, big companies like NBC, Netflix and TVLand are “responding to the mob.” Her word choice is telling. Perez didn’t say the companies were responding to “overwhelming public opinion”–something carefully considered. Instead Perez said “mob”–a word that is never a compliment, just as “mob rule” is never desirable.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg’s comments lent an even sharper perspective to what has been a broad condemnation of Cosby that assumes the truth of the allegations. Whoopi said what’s happening to Cosby is “not a rare thing. We watched it happen with Tiger Woods, we watched it happen with a lot of people. It’s always the same – something gets started, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, then you get whatever the truth shakes out to be and that’s the truth.” Whoopi reminded everyone to consider that “until you know if it’s true, it’s an allegation. That’s what it is.” She ignored the plural, didn’t say allegations, but she’s making an irrefutable point. In case anyone cares.
