Thread: Joke's on Bill Cosby as Seinfeld, Rock pay tribute

Joke's on Bill Cosby as Seinfeld, Rock pay tribute
By Brett Zongker, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 26, 8:07 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld will salute fellow funny man Bill Cosby on Monday night with the nation's top humor prize at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, along with two co-stars from "The Cosby Show," Phylicia Rashad and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

Tribute performances will range from standup to orchestra and jazz as Cosby receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Carl Reiner, Sinbad and Wynton Marsalis are slated to perform, as well as Willie Nelson.

On the red carpet before the show, Sinbad said he has always looked up to Cosby for breaking racial barriers and creating new opportunities for black actors and comedians.

"First of all, to have a brother on TV — with 'I Spy' — with a white co-star, that was unheard of," Sinbad said.

Rashad flew from London where she is in rehearsals for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" to be part of the show at Cosby's request. She said she expects plenty of "Cosby Show" memories.

"It was so much fun, it really was golden," she said on the red carpet. "I looked forward to waking up every morning and rushing to work."

Warner, who played Theo on the "Cosby Show," said he has been in touch with his TV dad ever since the show. Now, he said he is far enough removed to watch himself in reruns and said the show is a testament to Cosby's genius.

"He always said in 20 years he wanted the show to still be relevant, and here we are," Warner said.

Cosby made an entrance on the red carpet and applauded dozens of fans who responded with clapping.

Cosby, 72, has won other big awards, including the Presidential Medial of Freedom in 2002. Still, the Mark Twain Prize is special, he said, because Twain was the "quintessential American writer — because he held his language and his love for words in perfect American form."

He has insisted that performances at the tribute be free of profanity and that the show reflect his emphasis on education. He planned a special nod to his beloved Central High School in Philadelphia, with fellow alumnus James DePreist conducting an orchestra that will play their high school's alma mater.

First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the vice president's wife, also attended.

"The show is very, very important to me," Cosby said in an interview. "It makes me aware that as a monologist and a writer and a performer, I've done some wonderful work."

The tribute will air Nov. 4 nationwide on PBS.

Of all his accomplishments as a comedian, actor, author and television producer, Cosby said he is most proud of "The Cosby Show." He said he carefully crafted the hit TV show the way he wanted it to look.

Seinfeld, who took over Thursday nights on NBC after "Cosby" went to reruns, said he learned how to make the jump from standup to television by watching Cosby.

"The way that he would take reality and silly putty it, I think was the biggest thing I learned from him," Seinfeld said. "It was the idea that this may be how this thing is, but you can make it into something completely different in the way you talk about it and make it into something fun."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/...or_prize_cosby

Bill Cosby rocks. I hate to tell him but he was relevant LONG before The Cosby Show. I remember being in elementary school and they would use Fat Albert as a teaching tool to teach us how to get along with our classmates no matter their race, religion or creed. Personally, my mom has most of his early albums and as a child I memorized all of the routines on those albums.

January 1, 2016: There have been a lot of articles about how GUILTY Bill Cosby is . . . but have you ever considered that he MIGHT BE INNOCENT . . . and we're watching a PLOT to discredit the man? After all, Bill Cosby was in the midst of trying to PURCHASE NBC Universal - when the "news" of the rapes began to get traction.

Read this article and decide for yourself.

This article was originally posted on the website MELANOID NATION. Go to that site for more INTERESTING NEWS on the subject.
http://mediatakeout.com/292186/mto-s...m-of-rape.html

New Hampshire Woman Drops Defamation Suit Against Bill Cosby

In her lawsuit she said that she met Cosby while working as a secretary at a Los Angeles talent agency

A 72-year-old New Hampshire woman who says Bill Cosby raped her in 1965 withdrew her civil defamation lawsuit against the comedian on Friday, a day after a federal judge had allowed the case to move forward.

Kristina Ruehli's lawyer told The Associated Press her client had decided not to pursue the case because the legal landscape has changed since she first filed suit in November. Cosby now faces criminal prosecution in Pennsylvania and similar civil actions are in play in Massachusetts and elsewhere by dozens of other accusers.

"Ms. Ruehli is 72 and her husband just celebrated his 79th birthday," Megan Deluhery, Ruehli's lawyer, said. "She will watch the pending cases proceed in solidarity with other survivors, those known and unknown, while returning her focus, if she can, on her daily life and trying to put behind her all the pain this ordeal has caused her."

Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt responded that the comedian hopes more lawsuits are dropped or dismissed and that Cosby looks forward to fighting the rest before a jury in court.

Wyatt also noted Ruehli's is the second defamation case against his client to be dismissed this year. In January, former teen actress Renita Hill's civil suit was dismissed by a federal judge in Pittsburgh who ruled that the Cosby camp's comments were protected by the First Amendment.

"For those in the media who accepted every allegation raised without question or evaluation, they need to answer the well-known question with respect to Mr. Cosby, 'Which office do I go to get my reputation back?'," Wyatt said in a statement.


Deluhery countered that Ruehli's dismissal, unlike Hill's, was voluntary and had "nothing to do" with the merits of the case.

Ruehli filed a notice to voluntarily dismiss the suit without prejudice, meaning she could refile it. It came after a judge in Springfield, near where Cosby has a home, rejected the comedian's bid to dismiss the case Thursday.

Like other alleged victims seeking civil judgments against Cosby, Ruehli argued that Cosby falsely accused her of lying and tarnished her reputation when she came forward in 2014 to say he raped her.

Ruehli, who lives in Windham, near the Massachusetts state line, had said in her lawsuit that she met Cosby while working as a secretary at a Los Angeles talent agency when she was 22 years old.

She said Cosby invited her and others to a party at his home. Ruehli, who was named Donna Czapla at the time, says she took two drinks from Cosby and passed out, only to wake up naked and in Cosby's bed. She says Cosby was trying to force her to give him oral sex.

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england...#ixzz4Cdnx7LC8

comments


He raped me, he raped me!!!! "judge, your case can continue" Oh, never mind....

Now either she hasn't the conviction or he isn't guilty... Which is it? Did he pay her off? The only way we'll ever know is if we see him moving out of his mansion into an old folks home, because the news reports there are a lot of women claiming this..

But it really burns my ass all the women out for blood on Cosby, but then say they will vote for hillary when she's responsible for getting a rapist of a 12 year old girl off the hook.... And defended Bill Clinton after numerous women accused him of rape..

Very few people have conviction anymore... Like the song says, you got to stand for something our you'll fall for anything.

It's been over a year now that the first allegations came out right? Why hasn't he seen court yet? Could they actually be gold diggers who disappear after he flashes some cash?

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While I do believe he has assaulted a few of the women who had claims against him, I also believe that more than a few of these 50 women were lying through their asses.

This commentary is not a commentary that excuses Bill for the other potential rape/assault victims. I am waiting for THOSE court cases to proceed. He may be guilty. I'm not defending him.

This commentary is about the few women whose stories and actions have been questionable.

In all of my research, I know of 0 women who have been assaulted who would go this far just to voluntarily drop their case. She spent thousands of dollars trying to get her case heard, when the Judge said OK, she suddenly backs out saying "I proved my point".

No, she did not prove her point. She proved that she was hoping the case wouldn't go forward. When it was granted, she runs. Those are not the actions of a woman who was assaulted. Those are the actions of a woman who doesn't want to purger herself on the stand.

Women who are assaulted do one of two things:
1. Try to piece themselves together and move on.
2. Fight and never stop fighting.

They never: refuse to go to the cops, then go to the reporters instead, and then back out from a court case once it's allowed to go forward.

If they refuse to go to the cops, they refuse to speak to the press.

The only people who refuse to go to the cops, then choose to go to the press, while avoiding a jury, are people who are committing fraud.

..

There should be some financial restitution for those THOTS sullying his name and then dropping their defamation suit. If they were truly raped and their alligator tears real, they would go the distance!

..

Cosby needs to counter sue this alleged victim for defamation of character...It would seem all these women that have crawled out of the woodwork, to accuse him decades later, do not actually have any proof therefore they were wanting monetary compensation from Bill Cosby and when that didn't happen they have dropped their suits...

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This woman is so weird. She waits 50 years, files suit against him. It goes before a judge because Bill wanted it dropped. the judge said No. So she withdrew it one day later. She is weird. Now i am not sure I believe her.