Comedian Hannibal Buress says he received both praise and condemnation for the conversation he helped start about the history of sexual assault allegations against fellow comic Bill Cosby.
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Things changed drastically for Hannibal Buress after a joke he made about Bill Cosby went viral. In the clip, Buress said Cosby had no right to tell black people how to behave – “people with their hats on backward, trousers down around the crack” – because “you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the insane down a couple notches”. Cosby has since been vilified by comedians (Judd Apatow, most prominently) and pundits alike, and the evidence against Cosby continues to pile up – as a 2005 deposition uncovered earlier this month by the Associated Press revealed that Cosby admitted to obtaining Quaaludes with the intention of “giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with”. Following Buress’ joke, dozens of women came forward to claim the star of “The Cosby Show” violated them, and lawsuits were filed by the accusers.
Buress rarely references to his role in calling out Cosby publicly, but he spoke candidly about the fallout in a recent GQ interview. With Hannibal Buress on Comedy Central just a few weeks ago, and after Flying Lotus played some tunes on his second episode, it was decided he will now be the house DJ for the new show. “It is conflicting, because people think I’m like this wonderful guy or something”, he reflected.
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In the context of the GQ interview, though, Buress seemed exhausted of the subject. On social media, some have labeled Buress a hero. Or, as Brodesser-Akner quotes him saying in the final line of the piece “I don’t know what the fuck else you want me to say”.
