On The View Tuesday morning, Whoopi Goldberg voiced her opinion on the Bill Cosby scandal.
Goldberg said during the show that she is reserving full judgment of the former sitcom star until he is proven guilty in a court of law. She said, “I don’t like to make snap judgments because I’ve had snap judgments made on me, so I’m very, very careful.”
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However, she realizes that this might not be the most popular opinion and continues, “Save your texts. Save your nasty comments. I don’t care. I say this because this is my opinion, and in America, still, I know it’s a shock, but you are still innocent until proven guilty… He has not been proven a rapist.”
Goldberg is making a fair point that if we love our country and the rights we have in our nation, we almost have to give Cosby the benefit of the doubt, no matter how uncomfortable it feels to say that — and it does make me uncomfortable to say that.
But what makes her opinion hard to accept is the fact that we now have more to base our own personal judgment on than just the words of the accusers. We have a recently released court document in which Cosby admits to drugging women. The documents revealed that Cosby said in 2005 he had purchased Quaaludes and given them to women before “having sex” with them.
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Goldberg said, “The ’80s weren’t fun for everyone.” I’d bet Cosby’s alleged victims would agree.
Goldberg’s co-star Raven-Symoné was clearly and understandably uncomfortable. “I don’t really like to discuss [this] because he is the reason I am on this panel in the first place,” she said. Cosby gave Raven-Symoné her first real break. She sort of sides with Whoopi, saying, “You need proof, and then I will be able to give my judgment here or there.”
Multiple women have come forward to accuse Cosby of drugging and raping them over the last few decades. Couple that with Cosby’s own bizarre behavior and the fact that he has morphed from one of America’s most beloved figures into a creepy old man of sorts, and it is easy to quickly pass judgment. And if we didn’t have this recently released basic admission of guilt, we could wholeheartedly agree with her. But now that we do have it, how could we?
While these two stars might be withholding their judgment, the release of that document did cause one former Cosby supporter to flip sides. Singer and actress Jill Scott recently withdrew her support from Cosby with an epic set of tweets basically saying what Goldberg is saying here — that she stood by someone until there was proof. The difference, however, was that this court document was enough proof for Scott, yet not enough for Goldberg.
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