Good bye to an American icon

Bill Cosby isn’t dead, but his reputation has been dealt a potentially mortal injury.

I hesitate to say categorically that it’s a self-inflicted wound. Charges of sexual abuse and out-and-out rape have come from multiple women over many years against the iconic entertainer.

No charges have been filed by any law enforcement agency. Cosby, though, appears to be toast. He appears headed for entertainment oblivion.

http://time.com/3609432/colleges-bill-cosby-sexual-assault/

I get that U.S. citizens deserve the presumption of innocence. The allegations, though, are adding up. They have an eerie similarity. These women have talked about fear in bringing the allegations to light; they feared the fallout that would come by suggesting this gigantic entertainment figure would do the things they have alleged he has done.

Then one came forward. Then another, and another, and another. I’ve lost count of the number of women who’ve accused “The Coz” of doing terrible things to them.

Now we hear that the University of Massachusetts-Amherst has asked for — and received — Cosby’s resignation as an honorary faculty member; he received his master’s and doctorate in education at UMass-Amherst.

This ongoing and burgeoning scandal sickens me — as it sickens millions of other Americans who have laughed at Cosby’s everyman monologues and marveled at the role model he has become to so many men around the world.

I hope it’s false, as Cosby’s lawyer insists it is. I fear for the worst.