The hell with his senior citizenry and tenuous ambulatory state. The hell with her crude, comedic career. Bill Cosby and Kathy Griffin, respectively.
While you can’t really equate the sexual assaults that Cosby has been accused of–and has paid off on–with what Griffin did with her stab at macabre humor, they both have something decidedly in common. Something that is bigger than either individual.
They both unnecessarily, unfortunately undermined causes.
While Cosby was lionized back in the day for being funny without being offensive and for being a racial pioneer, he was also criticized for, in effect, not being “black” enough to suit racial purists and activists. His humor–going back to the night clubs of Philadelphia while he was a Temple University student-athlete–was known for its universality, not lowest common denominator. But he could also, especially later in his career, righteously lecture. He was no fan, for example, of rap. He showed it disdain.
He called out “thug” behavior, out-of-wedlock birthrates in the African American community and an educational subculture that could chastise well-spoken, black achievers as “acting white.”
That message should still have credibility, even if its Dr. Huxtable/Mr. Hyde messenger has been unmasked as an unconscionable predator.
As for Griffin, her gruesome photo, in which she was seen holding a prop of Trump’s bloody, severed head, is beyond appalling. Her humor niche is over-the-top, envelope-pushing taste that is not for everybody, although Anderson Cooper stayed with her for a decade in their annual CNN New Year’s Eve show. That’s now gone with her summary firing by CNN.
But the real harm is beyond disgusting distraction. This revolting incident provides grist for the Trump anti-media mill to demonize those who oppose his administration and its priorities. It provides ad hominen ammo for the Alt Reich and Trump Administration to up the rhetorical ante in savaging its opposition.
The reaction of Donald Trump Jr. underscored the impact. “This is the left today,” he said. “They consider this acceptable. Imagine (if) a conservative did this to Obama as POTUS?”
That’s what Kathy Griffin has wrought.