Patton Oswalt was on the You Made It Weird podcast with Pete Holmes and actually made it weird for a minute. That’s because the topic of Bill Cosby came up during the chat and Oswalt had some very strong, but noteworthy opinions on the situation.
The comedian hasn’t shied away from letting his feelings known about the Cosby sexual assault allegations, but the detail he goes into during the podcast really drive the message home: This probably is going to get worse.
"People should fact check." — Bill Cosby
Uh, no. Dude, no. The LAST thing you want people doing, Bill, is fact checking.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) November 22, 2014
Oswalt gets on the topic after talking about the “lizard brain,” or “f*ck thorn” as he calls it, that just ends up being naturally wired in some people, making them do “evil” things. That soon leans into the topic of Bill Cosby, allegedly one of the untold secrets of the comedy circuit:
“The Bill Cosby thing is so f*cking awful. And what’s even worse for comedians is a lot of us have known it for a long f*cking time. It was a very badly kept secret in the comedian world.”
That’s not too much of a shock to me, mostly because everyone has skeletons in their closet. Also I don’t think we lived in a world where people walked around calling others out on a public level the way we do now.
As has been said before, these allegations are nothing new. They’re just now being thrust into the spotlight, thanks to the viral nature of media and points like this one:
“He did the shit he did to these women when they were young and they were on this upswing (…) and this awful thing happens, they can never talk about it. So he’s just shot the ground out from under them. Not just in that one incident, but for decades of their lives, when they’re supposed to be enjoying the time when they’re in their physical prime and their mental prime, enjoying life (…) some guy takes that away from them. He doesn’t lose a second of sleep over it (…) and they had to sit there for decades while this guy did this over and over again, didn’t lose any sleep, was beloved.”
That’s the sad reality of a story like the one behind the Cosby allegations and others like it: these woman can’t live the same as they did before. If they can, they’re made of stronger stuff than most.
It’s easy to say it’s all a cash grab or it is old news and go about your day, but it’s something else if you’re living it. For the women and for Bill Cosby.
The entire podcast is worth a listen, especially if you’re an Oswalt fan. The entire Cosby segment is only a small morsel of the entire two hour interview, but it stands out. He does admit that he probably ruined the show for all the listeners by bringing it up, but closed it out with another strong point to ponder:
Oswalt: By the way, how many women have come forward at this point? Thirteen?
Holmes: I thought it was up to 14.
Oswalt: That means that there’s hundreds. If you see one cockroach there’s a thousand in your house.
I don’t even know what the accuser tally is up to at this point. I do know the allegations are real enough for the police to start investigating them, so take that for what it is. I’m holding fast to the idea that it’s a miserable situation all around and I hope the best for all involved.