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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI knew something was wrong with Bill Cosby when...
I remember watching some old boxing classics on YouTube a couple of years ago, including the Larry Holmes- Gerry Cooney 1982 HW title match. I decided to watch one of the undercard matches which featured Puerto Rican boxing great Wilfredo Gomez as well, and in between rounds they were asking celebrities in attendance for prediction for the Main Event.
As you might know, Holmes-Cooney was one most racialized and polarizing sport events of the late 20th Century. In order to sell the event, Don King started promoting the fight as a black vs. white affair, with Cooney becoming the camera friendly white man who was going to become the Great White Hope by beating up the unrefined and somewhat unlikable black champion in Holmes. The racial tension on fight night was so high that there were snipers on the rooftops around the Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. To add insult to injury, Cooney, the challenger, not only got paid more than Holmes, but also was introduced last as if he was the true champion.
So, in between rounds of the Gomez fight, we get to see Bill Cosby, with a huge cigar in his mouth and a particularly arrogant smug in his face, which was partially covered by huge sunglasses. The reporter asks Mr. Cosby about his pick for the fight. One would think that given the divisive nature of the fight and the humiliations the black champion was being subjected to, he would say something eloquent, unifying, inspiring... Or that he was going to show his fellow black brother some much needed support...
Well, none of that. Cosby, in the most arrogant way possible, takes his huge cigar out of his mouth and says "Cooney... He's knocking Holmes out in 4!" If you look at the clip, he almost sounds like he was trying to sound like a redneck rooting against the black man. He was being dismissive of the black champion, but in a sellout kind of way, just like Jesse Lee Peterson hating on all things black: both a real hatred and an act to gain the support of white people at the same time.
In the end, though, the truth won. Holmes exposed Cooney as a creation of a racist American media who wanted any white man to become HW after dealing with Muhammad Ali for a decade, and eventually we learned everything we saw about Bill Cosby on TV was a mask hiding a very ugly and dangerous human being.
catbyte
(34,619 posts)Cosby has been an arrogant asshole for years. I remember his condescending, tsk tsklectures scolding African American men as if he was the perfect family man. What a sick joke that turned out to be.
IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)Nasty man indeed.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)Contrary to what many white people think, POC aren't color struck. We don't line up and defend other black people just because they're black. If we defend you, it's because we truly believe you are in the right - or are being treated very unfairly. But if we think you're wrong, don't expect us to go to the mat for you. And that definitely applies if you turn your back on your people, and line up with white folk to ignore or malign us, but then start crying "oppression" and try to run back to us and expect us to embrace you and protect you. Ain't gonna happen.
We won't judge you for making a different choice. But don't come running back to us when you figure out you made the wrong choice.
Black people be like:
appalachiablue
(41,313 posts)hlthe2b
(102,702 posts)to his private life until he started become the scold/arbiter --of all-- for POC.... ( )
So, I had a lot of impressions about who he was that had to be "deleted" after more and more and more started coming out about who he truly is/was.
Still saddens me, I have to be honest... I don't defend him obviously, but it saddens me. It sort of feels like having your once beloved Uncle or Grandfather revealed to be a sexual predator-- really hard to accept I'd imagine.
PJMcK
(22,135 posts)Your interpretation of the fight you describe is profoundly subjective.
Cosby got the adjudication he deserved. He'll suffer the consequences of his behavior.
Nonetheless, your analysis of Cosby's reactions to the fight you describe is flawed.
Stick to facts. They're a bit more solid than opinions.
IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)It is a simple observation I made years ago that always stuck with me. His attitude and his adamant support for Cooney on national TV in a fight in which even white supremacists made a point to attend to root against the black champion struck me as odd and even insincere.
Thanks for reading my post, though.
PJMcK
(22,135 posts)"Stick to facts. They're a bit more solid than opinions."
IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)PJMcK
(22,135 posts)I don't know you and I have no opinion of you.
Except to say that your post is opinionated and not based on facts.
Curiously, I really don't disagree with you.
Have a nice evening.
OnyxSharpie
(33 posts)Then you would be unable to post your opinion that people should stick to facts.
GWC58
(2,678 posts)doesnt let witness, after witness, after witness, like 62 of them offer up victim impact statements in court. Ive heard some think Cosby will get off light. I dont share that view, impact witnesses or not. I think hes toast!
MaryMagdaline
(6,865 posts)From another relationship popped up. He pressed criminal charges against her for "extorting" him. That young lady got prison time. Shocked the hell out of me. I thought he should have forgiven her, at least publicly. Knowing how prison crushes people, I just can't see how he could stomach pressing charges against his own child. It was sort of a "how dare you mess with the great and powerful Bill Cosby" moment.
I also remember Jim brown giving an interview maybe 35 to 40 years ago saying "I know a whole different side to bill Cosby that has nothing to do with pudding pops." The interviewer just skipped right along. Got the feeling Cosby had a dark side; that it was well known; and that Jim Brown was a little sick of Cosby's good guy routine.
misanthrope
(7,449 posts)I started hearing bits and pieces of jokes slip from NBC personalities about "everyone here works for Mr. Cosby." It was a play on the phenomenal success of his show but it also made wonder if its essence was based in a growing egotism on Cosby's part. He wouldn't be the first successful person to fall prey to it.
All these years later, I think now maybe it was subtle chiding about the way he treated others.
misanthrope
(7,449 posts)Written by a former colleague, she included the following:
"[Cosby's] self-produced film 'Leonard 6' had been a hubristic disaster but there was talk of his buying NBC. He knew he was a god, and made sure that all around him knew that as well. He had earned a PhD in education and, save for his 'peers' (Sidney, Quincy Jones), we all had to address him as Dr Cosby."
The rest here:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/27/bill-cosby-dark-side-disgraced-comedian-women
jes06c
(114 posts)Cosby had a reputation for being extremely vindictive
oasis
(49,666 posts)Had Holmes not knocked him out, Cooney would have won on points. Holmes repeatedly landed jabs to Cooney and to most observers, commanded most of the fight. The official judge's final score cards had Cooney winning the majority of rounds.
The t.v. fight announcer said "The judges must have been watching another fight".
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)What was "America's Dad" doing at that cesspool?
LostOne4Ever
(9,311 posts)I was fooled until then. But what he did to her was such an asshole thing to do. Then I learned about the sucker punch he gave Tom Smothers brothers and how he humiliated Dean Brown at Notre Dame.
At that point I couldnt stand the man. But then I learned about the rape allegations.
The man is scum.
StevieM
(10,501 posts)He had an impressive career that he can be proud of. A Cooney victory wasn't an insane prospect to consider.
In the end, Holmes was the better fighter. And, yes, the way he was treated was appalling.
You forgot one of the most egregious parts: Ronald Reagan had a phone installed in Jerry Cooney's dressing room to a congratulate him after the fight. No line was set up for Larry Holmes.
IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)He was a good fighter, but not the dragon slayer they made him to be. He did stop Norton in one round, but when Kenny was way past his best.
By the way, did not know Reagan was also behind Cooney... No surprise, though!
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)I was taking a course in American Sign Language back during the Cosby show years. A homework assignment was to watch a show with the sound off. So I picked that show. I saw an extreme amount of arrogance, both in him and his "wife". It was quite shocking. I could never see that show, or them, in the same light again. When I turned the sound back on so to speak, you now "heard" everything differently.