Damon Wayans, an 80s actor/comedian/director best known for his work on popular TV series including My Wife and Kids and In Living Color, recently defended accused rapist Bill Cosby on The Breakfast Club, Power 105.1 FM’s hip-hop radio talk show.
“I don’t believe he was raping,” Wayans said. “I believe he was in relationships with all of them.” He later went on to joke, “Listen, how big is his penis that it gives you amnesia for forty years?”
Um….dude…what the actual fuck?
While her male co-worker laughed, the female interviewer astutely noted Cosby had been accused of rape by a few women decades before. Wayans refuted, clinging desperately to his little raft of male entitlement.
“If you listen to them talk they go, ‘well…the first time…’ the first time? Bitch, how many times did it happen?”
Whoa. Within seconds Wayans added, “And some of them really is unrapeable. I look at ‘em and I go…no you don’t want that, get outta here.”
Well. Personally, all my hope that we aren’t living in a dystopic society was just obliterated. For starters, the idea that someone would call into question the accusations of over forty women is obviously a douchebag that should die slowly like a housefly in a frat boy’s long abandoned keg of flat Miller Lite. I mean, are you serious? The idea that not just one woman’s perspective is invalid, but forty womens’ perspectives are invalid, really drives home the whole “women-don’t-ever-know-what-they-are-actually-experiencing-and-are-always-crazy-bitches” thing. Damn, it is really stressful to live in world where, as a woman, all positive or negative encounters with men are constantly up for debate.
I recall that once upon a time someone said something like ‘Hey man, just because she is wearing a short skirt and lipstick doesn’t mean she’s asking for it…” How novel! It seems like in general we could redirect the energy used to question women toward something nobler, uh….like, preventing rape from happening in the first place?
As far as someone being “unrapeable,” actually, we’re all rapeable, bro. In the patriarchy, we’re open and available to men all the time, just like a 7/11. Although every woman’s contact with our world is varied according to her background, race, class, and gender expression, the ambient fear of rape is one thing that does manage to tie us all together.
Wayans did make a salient point regarding white rapists Woody Allen and Roman Polanski still succeeding in finding work and winning awards. It is absolutely important to question who is targeted by media and for what reasons, but it’s equally important to listen to what women say, and not be a crazy, sexist dipshit. Peace out Wayans, I just *can’t* with all this anymore.
If you still have patience for this guy, you can watch the actual interview below:
