Bill Cosby's Tone-Deaf Message to Fans

The embattled comedian's awkward video message promising "laughter" offers only an out-of-touch rejoinder to a growing chorus of accusations.

Under other circumstances, the call from an old friend sounding cheerier than he has for quite some time might have been welcome.

But Bill Cosby's video message to fans, in which he's seen chatting on the phone, promising his upcoming standup appearance in West Virginia will "be hilarious" proved far more sad than funny. The 13-second spot, billed as being "filled with laughter," offers only a tone-deaf rejoinder to the growing chorus of sexual assault accusations against him.

What amounts to the comedian’s first national public appearance since allegations that he's a longtime sexual predator surfaced last year also presents some bizarre optics. Sure, the comfy chair he sits in wouldn't have been out of place in the Huxtable home. But his reddish silk outfit (were those pajamas?) seems better suited the retirement wing of the Playboy Mansion.

Even the old-school rotary phone in his hand sends an unintentional signal: Bill Cosby just doesn't get it. 

Cosby, of course, has a right to defend himself – or not defend himself (the video, broadcast Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” doesn’t address the allegations, which he has previously denied through lawyers). He has a right to keep performing on his “I’m Far From Finished” comedy tour. He has a right to post a goofy video that only months ago would have been charming, but now comes off as creepy.

Cosby has gone from America's Dad to America's Granddad to our biggest entertainment conundrum, keeping up the jokes as the accusations mount.

In those 13 seconds, the 77-year-old Cosby might have lost much of the good will he had left from a storied half-century comedy career. Whether or not you believe Cosby is capable of the allegations leveled against him, the onetime master storyteller told us more than he wanted to about himself, by awkwardly trying to joke away what could be the final word on his legacy.

Jere Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multimedia NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is also the author of "Raising a Beatle Baby: How John, Paul, George and Ringo Helped us Come Together as a Family." Follow him on Twitter.

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