Bill Cosby- Sexual predator orextortion victim?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Wow, I had COMPLETELY forgotten that I actually have a relative who was a fairly close business associate of Cosby's during the height of his career. I don't think they were best buddies, but close enough that Cosby was invited to my relatives see-and-be-seen wedding.

Had lunch with him yesterday. Their business relationship ended a long time ago, so he's no longer in the loop. But of course he knew him during the time period in question. My relative's assessment seemed to be that he never saw anything that would have made him suspect him of the things he's being accused of. But that said, he DID know him to make the rounds with several women, and that while he wouldn't have guessed, he wouldn't be entirely surprised if it were true.

Which, really, doesn't add much color to the picture. Cosby was a wealthy influential person in an industry where wealthy influential people often abuse that wealth and influence and get away with it. Almost everyone in that position could fall under the, "Well, he never did that kind of thing around ME...but I guess I'm not TOO surprised that it happened," banner.

[RStar]

Alex, that's one thing I have always maintained- that I could consume the art of a person whether I like the way a person is outside of that setting.

And no, there has been no reports that anyone else helped with said crimes. Those that would have "helped" in some fashion would be held close and very unlikely to share that information. But a third party would be an interesting twist. My question was just a hypothetical thought, however.

And GD, that's a very interesting story. It does tend to lean me that much more to the guilty side of the equation.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I know a woman who says it's true, with firsthand knowledge. She was very young at the time, of course, this was all a long time ago, but she still remembers.

I can't decide if I should let a celebrity's personal life affect how I feel about their thing they do. Should Mel Gibson's nut-job antics and personal nastiness affect how I feel about him as an actor? In that particular case, it does, though his later films are not what I'd want to see, regardless of who he was.