Comedian Hannibal Buress slammed Bill Cosby during his stand-up set at Philadelphia's Trocadero last week, calling the iconic entertainer a "rapist" in comments that stirred up strong emotions on social media.
While performing for Cosby's home crowd, Buress unleashed a rant, calling "The Cosby Show" creator a hypocrite and criticizing him for allegations that he drugged and sexually assaulted
women in the past, according to PhillyMag.com.
"It's even worse because Bill Cosby has the f***in' smuggest old black man persona that I hate," Buress said. "He gets on TV, 'Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the '80s! I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom!' Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches."
"I guess I want to just at least make it weird for you to watch 'Cosby Show' reruns," the comedian continued. "I've done this bit on stage and people think I'm making it up . . . when you leave here, Google 'Bill Cosby rape.' That sh** has more results than 'Hannibal Buress.'"
While Cosby has never faced criminal charges or been successfully sued in civil cases, the actor-comedian did settle a case with Andrea Constand, a former director of operations for Temple University's women's basketball team,
in 2006, according to Vulture.com.
Constand, who Cosby reportedly mentored, charged that he sexually assaulted her on two occasions. After she went public, 13 other women also came forward and claimed they, too, had been victimized by Cosby.
Buress' comments found plenty of support on social media, though there was an overall mixed reaction.
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