• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Netflix shelves it's Bill Cosby stand-up special due to growing rape charges.

Status
Not open for further replies.
This is interesting. What's the reasoning behind this?

And yeah with Cosby, the best thing is just to pull everything. Situation is toxic and hopefully there is some avenue still available to pursue things criminally so that these alligations can actually be investigated.

im guessing it's that he has admitted to the incident and it's been +30 years since it occurred. Add to that the tragic events that he had happen to him before his incident, there are those who are somewhat sympathetic towards him for his crimes.

It's shitty, it's shitty he did it and it's shitty that he also avoided jail time for it but i'm personally torn in regards to him. It's a situation where i can acknowledge his works as being great, and still know that what he did was terrible and that he hasn't answered for it is not right in any way. I share similar feelings regarding Mel Gibson, DW Griffith, and Leni Riefenstahl regarding their bodies of work and how i feel about the person behind them
 
I don't see what Polanski's movies still being on Netflix has to do with this, really. Polanski is a director, removing his works from Netflix also means removing the works of many hundreds of other people, whereas a Bill Cosby stand up special is really only removing his work (Techs and editors notwithstanding). Is it fair to Harrison Ford if they remove Frantic, or to Adrien Brody if the remove The Pianist?
I don't really know if either of these are on Netflix, but the point stands fro any of his movies that might be on there.

They're both
allegedly
horrible people of course, but I can see why Netflix would refrain from removing Polanski's material from their service even if his crimes were to pop back up in the public discussion like Cosby's have.
Polanski is convicted and has been fleeing apprehension for decades.
 

richiek

steals Justin Bieber DVDs
If new women came out against Polanski like is happening with Cosby I think that would happen. Unfairly it may be it's more about timing than anything else.

Yeah, it's similar to the Jian Ghomeshi situation in which there are multiple allegations of rape compared to just one case for Polanski. Still doesn't make it right that he's still free to make movies.
 
Can coin a new term similar to Ether? Can we say Cosby career just got Hannibalized? He was a victim of Hannibilism? Buressed?
I'm open to suggestions here.
 
Polanski still makes movies and has done so for many, many years after fleeing to France, post conviction.

Yeah and I'd raise an eyebrow if Netflix was still distributing and promoting his new work while kicking Cosby to the curb, but as far as I'm aware they're not doing that, right?
 

Sinfamy

Member
Am I the only one who was not surprised about this news at all?
I mean, I did play this a lot years ago.

DWJf0eb.png
 

DopeToast

Banned
So sad that somebody who I truly believe is one of the greatest stand-ups ever could do much harm to these people. Won't think of him the same again.
 

Kill3r7

Member
Yeah and I'd raise an eyebrow if Netflix was still distributing and promoting his new work while kicking Cosby to the curb, but as far as I'm aware they're not doing that, right?

He hasn't released a movie since 2013 but you are right. I don't blame Netflix for taking a stand against Cosby, it's their prerogative to do what they want with the show and ultimately they have to protect their company.

My original post was in response to the poster who pointed out the hypocrisy that exists when comparing the Cosby and Polanski. Cosby is the flavor of the week or month. Lots of time has passed since Polanski was convicted. I'm sure people will move on to something else, whether right or wrong. As others have pointed out ,Woody Allen faced similar allegation(s) but he seems to have weathered the storm and continues to ply his trade.
 
Yeah and I'd raise an eyebrow if Netflix was still distributing and promoting his new work while kicking Cosby to the curb, but as far as I'm aware they're not doing that, right?

rosemary's baby has been on netflix for a long ass time, and chinatown was definitely up on the service, maybe still is. Many of his films are also given Criterion releases, so they're available to stream on Hulu as well.

His crime has faded from the public's memory mostly due to how long ago it hapenned, and again, his body of work shouldn't be judged against what he did. Cosby's controversy is terrible in that it's only coming to light now, it seems as if those in positions to do something about it chose not to, and that the frequency with which he committed it is much larger than what Polanski did (not that i think these things should be directly compared, but since people in this thread have done so already i figured it's worth mentioning).

It goes to show what power Cosby had in that it's only now, 30 years after the fact, that people are finally feeling strong enough to come out with this and speak openly about what a criminal scumbag he is.

Again, i am not condoning what Polanski did. Polanski should have done his time and not been a piece of shit coward who fled when the time came to pay his dues to society and to his victim. But to point at his body of work and shout RAPIST is to ignore that he's one of the best filmmakers in history, rapist or no.
 

Kill3r7

Member
rosemary's baby has been on netflix for a long ass time, and chinatown was definitely up on the service, maybe still is. Many of his films are also given Criterion releases, so they're available to stream on Hulu as well.

His crime has faded from the public's memory mostly due to how long ago it hapenned, and again, his body of work shouldn't be judged against what he did. Cosby's controversy is terrible in that it's only coming to light now, it seems as if those in positions to do something about it chose not to, and that the frequency with which he committed it is much larger than what Polanski did (not that i think these things should be directly compared, but since people in this thread have done so already i figured it's worth mentioning).

It goes to show what power Cosby had in that it's only now, 30 years after the fact, that people are finally feeling strong enough to come out with this and speak openly about what a criminal scumbag he is.

Again, i am not condoning what Polanski did. Polanski should have done his time and not been a piece of shit coward who fled when the time came to pay his dues to society and to his victim. But to point at his body of work and shout RAPIST is to ignore that he's one of the best filmmakers in history, rapist or no.

And Cosby is one of the greatest comedians ever. I'm not sure what one's skill and excellence at his job has to do with the other.

I hate playing devil's advocate because I am coming off as a Cosby apologist which I am not but I feel like some perspective is needed when discussing this topic.
 
Thread title is slightly misleading since there have been zero actual charges. I mean, he definitely did it, but it's technically just a bunch of allegations, and will sadly probably stay that way.
 
And Cosby is one of the greatest comedians ever. I'm not sure what one's skill and excellence at his job has to do with the other.

I hate playing devil's advocate because I am coming off as a Cosby apologist which I am not.

as am i, only i'm trying to explain to those who have pointed out the seeming hypocrisy between netflix having Polanski's films but pulling this special. Polanski at least admitted to what he did and so many years have passed that it's faded from the majority of the public's memory whereas these Cosby allegations are only coming to the public now and there seems to have been some attempt at concealing them for 30 or more years, allowing Cosby to continue to commit the alleged crimes when it could've been stopped. Both are bad, but you can make a case that with Cosby it's worse because there were those that enabled him and because of them he was allowed to continue getting away with it for so long (again, if it's true).

I don't really see how the relationship Netflix has with Cosby regarding this special is anything like the relationship they have with the directors of movies they carry.

it's not, but people love to bring their pitchforks out whenever they can
 

KHarvey16

Member
I don't really see how the relationship Netflix has with Cosby regarding this special is anything like the relationship they have with the directors of movies they carry.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Why does Hollywood love Polanski so much, anyway? It just seems weird that they go beyond not condemning him and give him standing ovations and shit. Is it because Hollywood is full of fellow perverts who feel the need to close ranks around him?
 
5 women have come forward accusing him of rape. They say there isnt any DNA evidence to back up their clames, but surprise surprise... DNA wasnt around back then. I think he did it IMO.
 

.GqueB.

Banned
Yet, a confirmed rapist like Roman Polansky still has movies on there.

Really? Pretty crazy.

But like most things, this is less about "morals" and more about "how bad will we look right now if we let X happen?". The overall picture is too complicated.

im guessing it's that he has admitted to the incident and it's been +30 years since it occurred. Add to that the tragic events that he had happen to him before his incident, there are those who are somewhat sympathetic towards him for his crimes.

It's shitty, it's shitty he did it and it's shitty that he also avoided jail time for it but i'm personally torn in regards to him. It's a situation where i can acknowledge his works as being great, and still know that what he did was terrible and that he hasn't answered for it is not right in any way. I share similar feelings regarding Mel Gibson, DW Griffith, and Leni Riefenstahl regarding their bodies of work and how i feel about the person behind them

Ah, gotcha.
 
And Cosby is one of the greatest comedians ever. I'm not sure what one's skill and excellence at his job has to do with the other.

I hate playing devil's advocate because I am coming off as a Cosby apologist which I am not but I feel like some perspective is needed when discussing this topic.

Nah I don't think anyone believes you're defending Cosby.

It's a really complicated situation, when a loved artist ends up being a bad person. it can be hard to separate the work from the creator and then when we start talking about complicated stuff like distribution and promotion it gets even harder to explain. The Cosby Show is loved by millions and wasn't purely Bill Cosby's creation so I don't think that should necessarily change even if it came out that he was guilty. But I think anyone can agree that avoiding giving Cosby more spotlight with a Netflix special is a smart move. I never understood how he'd be able to carry a sitcom in his condition anyways, so I don't think that NBC series will last.

Thread title is slightly misleading since there have been zero actual charges. I mean, he definitely did it, but it's technically just a bunch of allegations, and will sadly probably stay that way.

They can't make real charges, statute of limitations and all that.
 

Voyevoda007

Neo Member
Woody Allen and Polanski mess around with children....we give them Oscars
Bill Cosby gets accused of something that is impossible to prove.....He loses everything.
I dont believe none of this shit.
 

xbhaskarx

Member
Woody Allen and Polanski mess around with children....we give them Oscars
Bill Cosby gets accused of something that is impossible to prove.....He loses everything.
I dont believe none of this shit.

So half a dozen women are coming forward publicly to go after Bill Cosby, allegations that are "impossible to prove" and that you "don't believe"... but Woody Allen being accused by his daughter (who was raised by his ex-wife who has plenty of reason to hate him) of molesting her one time as a child in the middle of the divorce is enough of a sure thing that you feel comfortable saying that he "messed around with children"?
Also your timeline doesn't make sense given that Woody Allen won Oscars decades before any of this happened or became public, Annie Hall came out in 1977.

(I'm not defending Woody Allen, I'm just puzzled by your comment)
 
TV Land has apparently suspended streaming episodes of the Cosby Show it seems.

Kind of funny (not really) how networks didn't seem to care when this stuff made headlines 10 years ago.
 

Oddduck

Member
TV Land has apparently suspended streaming episodes of the Cosby Show it seems.

Kind of funny (not really) how networks didn't seem to care when this stuff made headlines 10 years ago.

True, but I guess what really took Cosby down was social media, which wasn't nearly as big 10 years ago.

We didn't have Twitter until 2006. Didn't have YouTube or Reddit until 2005. Facebook had just been created and launched in 2004, but people were still using MySpace back then.

The TV networks wouldn't be reporting on this if the Hannibal Buress stuff didn't blow up so much on social media.
 
Yeah, that's likely why it's gained so much traction this time still I find it rather bothersome how so many are blindly defending Cosby despite so many women having come forward over the years yet I'd wager a lot of those same people immediately condemned Michael Jackson while calling him all sorts of names.

I misread the initial article and thought they were removing everything, I just get bent out of shape that Roman Polanski never went to prison for what he did.

Polanski was locked up for 42 days when an agreement had been made that he'd be put on probation. Then after he was out and waiting sentencing, heard that the judge (who by several accounts loved the attention he was getting and wanted it to continue) was going to renege on the deal that he agreed to along with the prosecutor and Polanski's lawyer was reached which is when he left the country. Still, Polanski is a creep who should've been locked up a lot longer.
 

Joni

Member
Yet, a confirmed rapist like Roman Polansky still has movies on there.
What was he actually convicted of? Was it rape or statutory rape? And what was the actual announced punishment? Wikipedia is quite unclear on that so genuine question.

Removing those movies would also be really disrespectful on the victim who wishes all the media attention on the case go away.
 
Can't believe how Cosby made such a huge impact on comedy for black performers then suddenly years later, in return a black actor who can thank Cosby for his start, jokes about a made up story he Googled, Meanwhile people take it seriously and suddenly we have women conveniently coming forward for a quick cash in. The comic could have mentioned anyone's name and said" look up any nice persons name on Google, they all have skeletons and made up stories. Anyone could easily write a fake article on Jeff Goldblum and bring it to the public attention, and bam. His life's work means nothing anymore. No good deed goes unpunished for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApsBI06qGhY
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom