Yesterday, Bill Cosby finally decided to break his unwavering recent media silence. But, the new 10-second video message he posted didn't address any of the disturbing sexual assault allegations leveled against him by more than 30 women. Instead, his clip mainly served to hype his current spate of comedy shows (yep, he's still performing) to whatever supporters he has left.
"Dear fans, I hope you enjoy my wonderful video message that's filled with laughter... Hey, hey, hey, I'm far from finished," the comedian wrote in a note accompanying the video.
In the clip, Cosby is hanging out, looking supremely comfy in an easy chair on a clearly phony living-room set. He's wearing silky maroon pajamas and gabbing on an old-school rotary phone to an imaginary fan about an upcoming 8 p.m. show in West Virginia. "You know I'll be hilarious!" he says enthusiastically. "Can't wait!"
Is the obnoxiously upbeat video a first attempt at revamping his damaged rep? A desperate bid to boost ticket sales? Or simply an effort to prove that, despite the still-building scandal, Cosby's career is "far from finished"? Whatever the 77-year-old comedian's intention, it's hard not to perceive the message as something of a callous brush-off to the brave women who've come forward — the ones he's been unceremoniously ignoring as his bad press just grows and grows.
Somehow we doubt Bill Cosby's "message to fans" will change many minds or win over many fence-sitters — it's certainly not changing ours.
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