I no longer struggle with artistic legacies. 'I no longer struggle with artistic legacies.' Whether we’re talking about Bill Cosby or Woody Allen or Roman Polanski or Johnny Depp or Kevin Spacey or Harvey Weinstein or Russell Simmons or any man who has built his success on the backs of women and men whose suffering was ignored for the sake of that success, it’s time to say that there is no artistic work, no legacy so great that we choose to look the other way. We forgive their trespasses because they create such brilliant work, because they are so charismatic, because there is such an allure to people who defy cultural conventions, who dare to do whatever they want. Their prominence grants them a certain amount of immunity. We are free to lament it, but not at the expense of his victims. The responsibility for that destruction is his and his alone. He once created great art, and then he destroyed his great art. To me, Cosby’s artistic legacy is rendered meaningless in the face of the pain he caused. As the extent of his predation was laid bare, the sheer number of women Cosby victimized staggered me nearly as much as some people’s willingness to still consider his artistic legacy, despite the damage he did.Įvery time I think of Cosby’s work, I remember the women he victimized and how their silence was trapped by the gilded cage of his fame. I know what it takes to come forward as a victim of sexual violence, and that when the perpetrator is famous, it takes everything, with so little to be gained.

But I try to believe people when they say how they suffered. It didn’t seem possible that the man who brought us Cliff Huxtable could also be a sexual predator. As I got older and began to hear stories about Cosby’s penchant for sexual assault, I wanted to look away.

Roxane gay the audacity