‘Black-ish’ Creator Responds to Judd Apatow’s Bill Cosby Criticisms
Black-ish creator Kenya Barris has urged Judd Apatow to quit ranting online about Bill Cosby’s sex assault scandal, branding the director’s barrage of comments “strangely obsessive”.
Apatow took to Twitter over the weekend and posted a lengthy series of messages urging Cosby to openly address the growing number of sexual assault allegations filed against him in an effort to salvage his reputation after more than 20 women, including models Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson, went public with stories of his reportedly inappropriate behaviour over the years, with some alleged victims claiming they were drugged and raped.
Cosby’s attorney has repeatedly dismissed the accusations as false, while the funnyman has remained largely silent on the controversy.
Apatow took aim at the veteran funnyman’s approach to the scandal and although he insisted the 77-year-old is “innocent until Proven (guilty)”, he added, “He should speak publicly about how false this all is. (Provide) 30 alibis… I always wonder why some people try so hard to not believe women who have been assaulted. What is the root of that?”
However, the filmmaker’s string of tweets have annoyed Barris, who criticized Apatow for not ranting about other important issues, like the recent decision not to indict the New York City cop responsible for the chokehold death of unarmed black man Eric Garner in July.
Reaching out to Apatow online, Barris tweeted, “Dude. Enough. Not defending him AT ALL, but u do realize this borders on strangely obsessive, right? Where was ur EricGarner (tweet) (sic)”.
@JuddApatow – dude. Enough. Not defending him AT ALL, but u do realize this borders on strangely obsessive, right? Where was ur#EricGarner
— kenya barris (@funnyblackdude) December 30, 2014
@JuddApatow – #FergusonDecision #ICantBreathe #PakistanSchoolAttack #donaldsterling #3rdactoffunnypeople tweets?
— kenya barris (@funnyblackdude) December 30, 2014
He added, “It’s like ur getn (getting) some sick pleasure from watching a black man who meant so much for so many fall”, before concluding his posts by writing, “I’m sorry 2 use a public forum to say this to 1 of my idols but I think it’s important to take a moment 2 say ‘we get it, Judd’.
@JuddApatow -I mean ur a comedy god but u have an extremely narrowband and privileged scope for ur powerful rage. He's probably a monster…
— kenya barris (@funnyblackdude) December 30, 2014
@JuddApatow -but as we have seen recently, nothing is true till it is & he's thru. Done. Stop kicking. It's like ur getn some sick pleasure
— kenya barris (@funnyblackdude) December 30, 2014
“Finally, i want 2 say that ur a genius, national treasure, maverick, & will probably now deservedly ruin my fledgling career.”
Apatow since responded with the below tweet:
I don't know if his criticism of me is accurate. I just hate rapists. But we look like the exact same person! pic.twitter.com/U7QzLZ0CDp
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) December 31, 2014
As has Barris:
@JuddApatow – I hate rapists. I hate Twitter. And most of all I hate how I look.
— kenya barris (@funnyblackdude) December 31, 2014
Photo Credit:Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com/ Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
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