Reactions to Bill Cosby’s comedy and his political views show the way in which many have failed to clearly distinguish between these two strands of his connection to the freedom struggle. This has been complicated by Cosby’s projection of some of his political ideals through his comedy while he chose to neglect others. The militant and radical words of Cosby in Playboy in 1969, his endorsement of civil rights causes, help for the under-privileged, and critique of systemic racism contrasted with the color-blind worldview projected by his comic creations. His more recent message of Black self-determination and community action that has links to conservative thought exists alongside repeats of The Cosby Show and the associated projection of a color-blind world symbolically led by Barack Obama. Such duality and visibility has so often made Cosby a reference point for the position of Blacks in America in the years since the civil rights movement.
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