Alex Carson
If you thought that the world had heard it’s last from Bill Cosby, you were wrong! Whether the people want it or not, it seems that the disgraced comedian is adamant on returning to the stage sooner rather than later. Bill got out of a three-year stint in prison in 2021, which came as a result of a sexual assault conviction. While in prison, the 85-year-old comedian convinced the public that he was at death’s door. Now, the Hollywood predator has a tour planned for 2023. Join Facts Verse as we explore why fans are outraged as Bill Cosby plans his comeback tour.
Bill Cosby’s Reputation Was Destroyed by #MeToo
Of all the figures that were taken down a peg by the #metoo movement, there were few that got it worse than Bill Cosby. The controversy was made all the worse by the supposedly wholesome image that the once-beloved comedian had carefully maintained over the course of his decades in the spotlight. In retrospect, it seems that Bill’s predatory nature was an open secret. In October of 2014, alternative comedian Hannibal Buress was performing a gig in Bill Cosby’s home city of Philadelphia and he worked in a routine about the superstar being a well-known date rapist. At the time, people in the entertainment industry may have gotten the joke, but it came as a shock to much of the public when the routine went viral. Soon afterward, allegations started pouring out against Bill, and his secret was finally out.
By the end of 2015, over 50 women had come forward with allegations against Bill Cosby. The general theme seemed to be that the comedian had a penchant for inviting women over to wherever he happened to be staying under false pretenses, drugging them, and then taking advantage of them after the drugs kicked in. After the incidents, the comedian would keep the victims silent by exploiting his celebrity status. There were dozens and dozens of women alleging that Bill took advantage of them, and only one of the allegations needed to stick. The allegation that ended up sending the comedian to prison for three years came from Andrea Constand.
Andrea Constand’s first trial against Bill Cosby ended with a hung jury, but the comedian wasn’t so lucky the second time around. In 2018, Bill was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison. He was released in 2021, but it wasn’t because it had been three years. Instead, the reason for Bill’s 2021 release from prison after serving roughly three years was due to a technicality. It seems that it had been found that there was a due-process violation during the trial, and this violation resulted in Bill being let off scot-free.
Bill Is Anxious to Get Back Out on the Stage
Bill Cosby was released back into the public in 2021, and he no longer worry about what he did to Andrea Constand. However, he still had to worry about the loose ends left with the other dozens and dozens of accusers. The comedian began talking about performing a comeback tour as soon as he was released, and he seemed pretty serious about it. Still, he ended up cancelling due to the fact that there were still several other women with impending trials against him.
The reason Bill postponed the tour that be began planning upon his release from prison in 2021 was because he didn’t want any of his upcoming trials to affect publicity. Bill believed at the time that the public would be talking more about the trials than about his tour. He was most likely right, but the comedian is certainly going to be having more PR problems than this when he finally ends up getting back out on the stage.
The trials that Bill Cosby was worried about affecting his publicity in 2021 have come and gone, and none of them resulted in the comedian going back to prison. Despite the fact that there are now even more lawsuits on the horizon for the 85-year-old performer, it seems that Bill has finally ready to get back up on the stage again. Bill is now planning a tour for 2023, which was revealed during a surprise radio interview that the comedian gave in his home city of Philadelphia toward the end of December in 2022. It’s debatable whether or not anyone is going to want to see the performer, but Bill is optimistic about the prospect of practicing his comedy again. According to the man himself, he’s better now at storytelling than ever.
Bill Performed a Small Show Before Prison
Before going to prison for three years, Bill Cosby performed a show in 2018 that gave people a taste of what it might be like to see the comedian in a post-#metoo world. However, due to the fact that the crowd was very small and select, it’s hard to really tell if their reaction will end up being the same as the general public’s. This was before Bill was sent away to prison, but it was after dozens and dozens of women had already come forward with their damning stories against the comedian. The event was a small ceremony paying tribute to a jazz musician by the name of Tony Williams.
The 2018 show that Bill Cosby performed in tribute to Tony Williams occurred at the LaRosa Jazz Club. It seems that everyone in the small crowd received the comedian warmly, even if he was being torn to shreds in the public sphere. When footage of the event was shared via social media, internet users had a much more vicious reaction.
The performance included such memorable bits as Bill Cosby scatting along with the jazz band and handing a pair of drumsticks off to the 11-year-old son of one of the musicians. Bill then asked this child if he knew who he was in a bit that may have reminded of the comedian’s tenure on Kids Say the Darndest Things. The kid said that he didn’t know who Bill was, to which the performer replied that he was a comedian. Bill also joked about his supposed blindness during the performance, which has become an even bigger point of contention since.
Is Bill Cosby Really Blind?
Ever since the allegations started coming in against Bill Cosby, the comedian has loved claiming as if he’s in failing health. While he was in prison, he tried to convince the world that he was at death’s door in a desperate attempt to get set free. The attempt didn’t work, but he ended up getting set free anyways. Now that he’s free, it seems that the 85-year-old comedian is feeling perfectly fine. However, one claim that never seems to go away is the comedian’s insistence that he’s blind. Bill is legally blind but there are still many that doubt his blindness.
Bill is adamant that he wants to start performing comedy again in 2023, but things are just as bad as ever for the comedian from a PR standpoint. Towards the end of 2022, just before Bill came out with the surprising news that he was planning a tour, five more women came out with allegations against him. These new allegations came as a result of a new law, which was passed in New York. The law has opened up the statute of limitations for survivors of sexual assault. Several of the women clam that Bill drugged and raped them, while the other few allege that he used his power to touch them inappropriately. Given what we already know about Bill, it’s likely that the majority of the public considers him automatically guilty as soon as a new accusation comes out. However, Bill claims that the new lawsuits are just as frivolous as the old ones. Bill has never fessed up to his criminal behavior, and he truly believes that he’s going to win back America’s heart with his upcoming 2023 tour.
Will Bill Be Able to Win Back America’s Heart?
Of the five women with upcoming lawsuits against Bill Cosby, two of them are actresses that formerly worked on The Cosby Show. The Cosby Show represents the pinnacle of Bill’s career success. The show was exceptionally wholesome, and furthered the comedian’s reputation as America’s dad. No one at home could’ve predicted that the loving dad on the television was a monster in real life. However, it seems that there were many people in the comedian’s vicinity at the time that were well aware of what he was capable of doing.
Bill Cosby seems to think that the world is going to forgive him of his crimes. Though this is incredibly unlikely, there have been figures that have survived #metoo-related downfalls in the world of stand-up comedy. Louis C.K. is a performer that was at the top of the world when a surplus of troubling accusations came pouring out alleging that he liked to abuse his power to sexually manipulate women. The comedian lost his hit show, and feared he’d never be able to perform again. Now, Louis is performing again. Not only that, but it seems that many people are ready to give the comedian the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his past crimes.
Louis C.K. was able to come out of forced retirement and reclaim his title in the world of stand-up comedy, but he was never convicted of sexual assault. It’s going to be a much harder battle for Bill Cosby. Not only were Bill’s crimes more severe, but he also refuses to admit any wrongdoing despite the fact that he was proven guilty.
Bill Cosby is ready to get back out into the world of stand-up comedy, but is it ready for him? Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Bill Cosby is planning a tour in 2023, and that he still says he’s not guilty? Comment down below!
