Jay Leno has long been the butt of many jokes in the comedy and entertainment industries. He was the late-night host we loved to loathe for his "groan-worthy jokes" and not-so-friendliness. But, yesterday, Leno made a comment on the Bill Cosby allegations in a way that almost no other major celebrities have. Rather than sling mud or equivocate on Cosby's character, he turned the conversation toward the survivors.
"I don't know why it's so hard to believe women. You to go Saudi Arabia and you need two women to testify against a man. Here you need 25!"
The topic came up in a conversation at a NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) conference. Though Leno's reply rang faintly of his old, flat monologue cracks, we'd say this one also hit the nail right on the head. Some have lambasted Leno for "sidestepping the question," but this comment made his stance completely clear.
"I don't know why it's so hard to believe women. You to go Saudi Arabia and you need two women to testify against a man. Here you need 25!"
The topic came up in a conversation at a NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) conference. Though Leno's reply rang faintly of his old, flat monologue cracks, we'd say this one also hit the nail right on the head. Some have lambasted Leno for "sidestepping the question," but this comment made his stance completely clear.
That's no small feat when it comes to talking about this terrible situation. Last week, Lena Dunham made her first almost-comment on the allegations in a Time Out New York interview. She responded to the criticism against Judd Apatow's Twitter crusade against Cosby, which some have called obsessive. "It's sort of like saying someone's obsessed with the Holocaust...This is a huge issue, and it speaks to the way that we abuse power and the way that celebrity allows for injustice." Before it was even published, Dunham publicly apologized for the genocide analogy, but it illustrates how fumbled this dialogue has been thus far.
Leno's statement is just one among hundreds hashing out this story in the press, but he raises the question that lingers around so many cases of sexual assault: Really, why is it so hard to believe?
Leno's statement is just one among hundreds hashing out this story in the press, but he raises the question that lingers around so many cases of sexual assault: Really, why is it so hard to believe?