On Sunday night, Showtime is launching the first episode of director W. Kamau Bell’s four-part documentary series, We Need to Talk About Cosby. The documentary takes a close look at Bill Cosby’s career, but just as importantly, his fall from grace in light of the 50+ sexual assault and rape allegations that have come out against him since 2014.
Unsurprisingly, Bill Cosby – by way of his spokesperson Andrew Wyatt – released a statement against the documentary, referring to it and its director as a “PR hack.” The entire statement can be found below.
“Mr. Cosby has spent more than 50 years standing with the excluded; made it possible for some to be included; standing with the disenfranchised; and standing with those women and men who were denied respectful work because of race and gender within the expanses of the entertainment industries.
Let’s talk about Bill Cosby. Mr. Cosby continues to be the target of numerous media that have, for too many years, distorted and omitted truths … intentionally. Despite media’s repetitive reports of allegations against Mr. Cosby, none have ever been proven in any court of law.
Let’s talk about Bill Cosby. In June, 2021, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court released Mr. Cosby; and the court’s Chief Justice defined the Pennsylvania Montgomery County District Attorney’s behavior as reprehensible.
Let’s talk about Bill Cosby. Mr. Cosby knows the realities of prosecutorial violations; and that those violations are threats to the integrity of our nation’s criminal justice systems. That is a subject matter for a professional documentary.
Let’s talk about Bill Cosby. Mr. Cosby vehemently denies all allegations waged against him. Let’s talk about Bill Cosby. He wants our nation to be what it proclaims itself to be: a democracy.”
In 2014, Cosby became the subject of numerous sexual assault allegations which became highly publicized during the Me Too movement. In 2018, Cosby was convicted of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand. He was imprisoned until the conviction was vacated in June 2021, by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for violations of Cosby’s 5th Amendment and 14th Amendment due process rights. In November 2021, the prosecution petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to reverse this decision.
W. Kamau Bell’s We Need To Talk About Cosby documentary premieres on Showtime on January 30th.
