New York-based comedian Hannibal Buress referred to Bill Cosby as a “rapist” during a stand-up set at the Trocadero in Philadelphia last Thursday.
In his act, Buress suggested that The Cosby Show creator, widely recognized for his portrayal of one of America’s favorite dads, Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, was hypocritical to give out advice, given a string of sexual abuse allegations against the entertainer. Buress encouraged the audience to “Google ‘Bill Cosby, rape,'” and joked that it would produce “more results than Hannibal Buress.”
The remarks were reported by PhillyMag.com and became viral Monday after BuzzFeed and Gawker aggregated them.
You can watch the Cosby-related part of the performance here:
Buress concluded the joke with a self-deprecating quip: “I don’t know what I’m doing by telling you this. I wanted to at least make it weird to watch Cosby Show reruns.”
It is not the first time that Cosby, whose pioneering career in standup influenced comedy legend Richard Pryor, among others, has been called out by another comic onstage. Eddie Murphy famously impersonated Cosby in his 1987 HBO special Raw, saying that the elder comedian “chastised” him for material that was “too dirty.”
MORE: Bill Cosby’s Maddening Paradox
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