'Walk Of Shame?' Black Activists Want Bill Cosby's Hollywood Walk Of Fame Removed –– 4 Latest Developments In Shocking Case
July 10 2015, Published 8:43 a.m. ET
Black activists have called for Bill Cosby's Hollywood Walk of Fame star to be removed after his 2005 admission to buying drugs to give to women went public this week.
"If they don't remove that star, we can call it the walk of shame," one of the activists, Najee Ali, told the AP. "Cosby to black America is an icon, but once an icon figure betrays the trust of the community, we have to withdraw our support and condemn their actions." Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, said he and many other prominent black leaders had reserved judgment on the comedian as the accusations piled up late last year, but are no longer on the fence after this week's revelation, which came from a deposition in his 2005 case against a one-time employee of Temple University. "We were there, we remained silent -- but no more," Hutchinson said. (At the outset of the scandal, Cosby had urged black media to stay neutral until the facts were revealed.) The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president Leron Guble said the organization would not set a precedent in removing a star from the iconic display. "We have never removed a star from the Walk ... Once a star has been added to the Walk," he said, "it is considered a part of the historic fabric of the Hollywood Walk of Fame." The star at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue -- which the sitcom king received in November 1977 -- was vandalized with the word "rapist" after news of the drugging accusations broke late last year.
After the Disney World Resort took down a statue of the star earlier this week, other efforts have been made to eliminate Cosby-related landmarks.
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College Controversy
The president of Central State University, a historically black college in Ohio, said that the issue of whether to change the name of a building on campus -- the Cosby Communications Center -- will be "discussed appropriately," as the ongoing case of the comic is "troublesome and disappointing to all." The comedian's family has posted more than $2 million in donations to the school, according to The Dayton Daily News.
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All The Way To The White House
President Barack Obama has been urged by a victim's group to take back a Presidential Medal of Freedom Cosby was given in 2002. PAVE (Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment), using the the White House's "We the People" website, has gathered more than 4,400 signatures to confiscate the medal from the embattled comic. "Bill Cosby's name does not belong among this distinguished list," the group said. "We cannot yet give his accusers their day in court, but we can fight back in the court of public opinion."
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Another Friend Turns
After Cosby defender Jill Scott renounced the comic after the admission went public, 70s TV icon Jimmie "J.J." Walker spoke out against his friend's actions. "I believe yes, he did wrong -- I'm happy for the women who feel vindicated," the Good Times actor said, comparing Cosby to another fallen star. It's a "shame he's been reduced to the O.J. Simpson of comedy," Walker said. "Bill is just a great, great talent, but something happened and something snapped … there's a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde kind of thing." Walker said that one tragic instance in the scandal is that the good work Cosby has done in his professional life will be "Etch-a-Sketched from humanity." He added that "after 52 years, Cosby doesn't have a career. That's sad to me."
