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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Sep 7, 2026, 4:18 PM

    If you were born anytime from the early 1960s into the mid 1990s, you grew up with Bill Cosby. It's difficult to explain to younger people how omnipresent he was in popular culture. He did stand-up comedy, he was in "I Spy," he was a series regular on the PBS educational show "The Electric Company" for two seasons, a cartoon based on his childhood and his stand-up show called "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" ran on Saturday morning TV for years (and he provided most of the voices), he was cast in numerous movies, he was in commercials for Jell-O pudding pops. And then there was "The Cosby Show" and its spin-offs. He cultivated a friendly, approachable public image; several pundits referred to him as America's Dad. Even so there were persistent rumors about him, such as that when he did stand-up shows in Vegas he was sometimes seen in public with women who weren't his wife. But people largely ignored those rumors because they enjoyed being entertained by Bill Cosby.

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Replies

  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Sep 7, 2026, 4:24 PM

    Then things changed in 2014. Stand-up comedian Hannibal Buress publicly called out Cosby for some of the rumors, specifically that he drugged and assaulted women. Women started to come forward with their own stories of things Cosby had done to them. It sparked the #MeToo movement, and Bill Cosby wasn't the only one called out. He was, however, one of the most visible because of his ubiquity in popular culture. Bill Cosby was tried, sentenced, and spent some time in jail but was able to be released due to a technicality (IIRC, he had given testimony about some of his activities after obtaining a promise that he would not be prosecuted). The damage, however, was done. People knew what Bill Cosby had done and they could not see him the same way again.

    Now, I told you that story to tell you this one.

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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Sep 7, 2026, 4:34 PM

    If you were alive in the 1990s and 2000s, you most likely experienced the pop culture phenomenon that was (and is) Harry Potter. Frankly, it was hard to avoid. I tried to, as I usually try to avoid reading books in a series until that series is complete. But friends kept urging me, and by the time the third book was on the market I decided to crack the first one open and see what it was all about. Let's just say it was right up my diagon alley.

    For the next few years I went to book release parties, I knitted Hogwarts house scarves for family members, I tried my hand at making chocolate frogs before they were commercially available, and I saw all the movies (and muttered about how they'd cut Peeves). My sister sent me a shirt for my birthday with a quote (incorrectly attributed to Hermione Granger): "When in doubt, go to the library." I wore it constantly.

    And then things slowly started to curdle and become toxic. Just as with Bill Cosby, there were certain rumors circulating, quiet but persistent.

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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Sep 7, 2026, 4:44 PM

    The rumors started when the books were first published. People who felt uncomfortable with the way house elves were portrayed as mostly happy with their servitude. People who pointed out that the wizarding world was, in many ways, far more socially traditional, even backward, compared to muggle society. The ways the notion of pure-blooded wizards mapped extremely closely to early 20th century beliefs in eugenics. (To be fair, obsession with pure blood and persecution of muggleborns was called out as morally wrong in the books themselves.)

    And then after the series was complete, there was that business with the Robert Galbraith book "The Cuckoo's Calling." I have not read any of the books Rowling wrote under the pseudonym of Galbraith, but as I understand it the first book features an antagonist who is called out as transgender. (Let me know if I've gotten this wrong, BTW.) That sparked a further social media discussion on transgender people, and as it turned out JK Rowling was not a fan.

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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Sep 7, 2026, 4:55 PM

    This surprised and dismayed quite a few LGBTQ Harry Potter fans, who had naturally assumed that the woman who wrote "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities" was certainly an ally. The pushback against some of her anti-trans comments led Rowling, who had perhaps gotten used to an adoring public for over a decade, to double and triple down. And now she's actively funding causes that harm trans people.

    I know there are a lot of people who don't care about this issue. They love the books, they love the movies, they love the video games, they love everything about Harry Potter and are loath to give any of it up because the person who wrote the series turned out to have some terrible beliefs. (See also Roald Dahl, who was about as racist and sexist as they get.) Recently Jason Pargin made a video essay talking about how pointless it is to boycott the Harry Potter franchise, because so many people love it that the boycott doesn't make any financial difference.

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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Sep 7, 2026, 5:04 PM

    I still have my t-shirt that says "When in doubt, go to the library." It's soft and comfortable, it fits me perfectly, I like the sentiment and the design. And I have to get rid of it. Not because I think it's going to do anything to JK Rowling, who continues to rake money in with both claws, no doubt hissing happily. She will never know or care what I think of her.

    But it's not for her. It's for my nephew.

    He loved the Harry Potter books growing up, just as much as I did. He wrote fan letters to Rowling, thanking her for coming up with such a wonderful world. He came out as trans not long after Rowling went full TERF, and her attitude broke his heart.

    At this point, if I wear Harry Potter-related merchandise of any kind in public, I know the message I am giving to the kinds of people Rowling thinks shouldn't exist. They can't know I'm a safe person if I choose to wear that shirt. And while Rowling's opinion doesn't matter to me, my nephew's feelings do.

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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Sep 7, 2026, 5:12 PM

    Rowling may never experience social comeuppance for her actions the way Bill Cosby faced legal jeopardy for his. Trans people are a relatively small subset of humanity, and unfortunately JK Rowling isn't the only person who thinks they shouldn't exist at all. (*ehem*Trump*ehem*) Trying to financially break someone like this by boycott is not going to make a difference to her, but that's not really the point. It will make a difference to the people who are being affected by her cruelty. It will make a difference to those who might think that my love of a pop culture character is greater than my love of real people with real lives.

    So it's time to let this shirt go. Just as a lot of people got rid of some garish "Cosby sweaters" back in the 20 teens. And for much the same reason.

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  • TattieTattie@eldritch.cafe
    Oct 3, 2026, 12:40 PM

    @Soozcat thank you, from a transgender woman and ex-Harry-Potter fan.

    I was having a conversation the other day with a classmate, who mentioned the series in passing and saw me flinch.

    "Oh, are you not a fan?", she asked.

    "It's just... what JK Rowling says about people like me. About how she uses her money to try to destroy us."

    "Oh." She was taken aback. "I've heard a little about that. And I don't want to be part of that, but... you have to understand. I grew up with the series. It means so much to me."

    "I get that," I responded. "I was also a fan. I waited for hours outside the bookshop for book number five to be released. I went to Harry Potter parties. I speculated online about plot points. All my friends were into it. And then JK came out as transphobic, and it ripped all that away from me. Overnight the entire fandom was ruined for me, because I knew what she thought about me and everyone like me."

    I know what I'm asking when I ask cis fans to step away. Not because it is easy, but because it is heartbreaking. Because it broke my heart.

    I'm asking them to gently abandon their nostalgia and their sense of belonging linked to the series, difficult tho that is, on the grounds that people are more important. I am not an abstract political position but a human being, with the capacity to suffer.

    It is difficult to step away from something that brought you comfort. It's an order of magnitude harder to have it torn from you and turned against you. That's something I hope few people have to experience in their lives.

    ❤️

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  • Fénixspacelogic@kind.social
    Oct 3, 2026, 3:00 PM

    @Tattie @Soozcat I feel this, though I was lucky that I had grown away from HP fandom before it became unbearably obvious. Nowadays I think I maybe didn't so much *like the stories* as have a special interest combined with the pleasure of being able to talk to mainstream people about it. But I poured years of my life into the fandom, it was where I found community in my youth, and now I can't bear to think too much about that entire period because JKR's actions have tainted those memories.

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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 7:35 AM

    @Tattie I've often wondered if it would help those who are having a hard time walking away from Harry Potter to imagine being in a huge auditorium with thousands of fellow fans, cheering as their favorite author walks to a spot behind a podium.

    "Thank you!" the author says. "Thank you so much! I'm so thrilled to be here with you today. EXCEPT FOR YOU. You there. Arthur. Arthur Philip Dent in seat 42V. How dare you come in here? I despise you! You're a jerk, Dent. A real kneebiter. And everyone within the sound of my voice should HATE YOU TOO."

    Because that, in essence, is what Rowling did to transgender Harry Potter fans.

    (with apologies to Hitchhiker's Guide fans)

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  • Dustin D. WindMySideIsHumanity@myprivate.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 2:45 PM

    @Soozcat @Tattie IMO, worse… she explored the themes of found family, and a child who’s misunderstood and cruelly mistreated by society finding their own special place to belong.

    Which, as much as it belongs to anyone, belongs most to those who have been abusively marginalized.

    She’s a little closer to someone who makes a birthday cake for an ethical vegetarian… then once the party’s over, she reveals her special ingredient of powdered factory-farmed chicken bones. 👹

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  • TattieTattie@eldritch.cafe
    Oct 4, 2026, 4:05 PM

    @MySideIsHumanity this!
    And there's a parallel with her personal life: she has long pushed this "rags to riches" account of her life, which falls apart quickly when you examine it. JK is a privileged woman playing at being oppressed. Always has been. So it makes sense that she mistrusts and attacks those actually oppressed.
    @Soozcat

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  • Dustin D. WindMySideIsHumanity@myprivate.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 4:26 PM

    @Tattie @Soozcat From lynchings of “savages” to the Central Park woman SWATting an uppity Black birdwatcher who dared ask her to control her unleashed dog, and far beyond… the oppressed can tell you, few things are as dangerous as a privileged cis White woman who chooses to weaponize her crocodile tears in service of her ego and the moneyed patriarchy. 😔

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  • Kate Hildenbrandrootsandcalluses@mstdn.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 7:36 AM

    @Tattie This! I am trans enby, and the series used to fill so much of my life. I had (and unfortunately still have) so much of my brain filled with trivia. I still have quotes from the series pop up in random moments.

    The series was flawed, we all knew that... White default, police as the good guys, fat shaming, and all that. But it wasn't until that person started terfing around (and to my shame a little while after) that I accepted I had to give up that part of my identity.

    @Soozcat

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  • D. G. Marshalldavidtheeviloverlord@mastodon.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 5:53 AM

    @Soozcat

    One of the two series I'm writing is about YA superheroes. At one point, a new character arrives at the superhero school. She talks about magic like it's real, sparking an argument with those who don't believe in magic.

    In the first draft, Harry Potter was mentioned. The magic girl's complete ignorance of Potter was the first clue that She's Not From Around Here.

    Then Rowling went all TERF. And she was hurting people who only wanted to live their lives.

    1/2

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  • D. G. Marshalldavidtheeviloverlord@mastodon.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 6:02 AM

    @Soozcat

    Trans people asked us cis people to not Potter.

    So I removed the Harry Potter reference, and replaced it with my own fictional (i.e. non existent) magic school novels.

    And then I started writing a series of comic fantasy novels.

    The third novel, currently under construction, features that character and magic school.

    And that character is trans, and I hope that helps trans people, and upsets TERFs.

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  • Dustin D. WindMySideIsHumanity@myprivate.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 2:27 PM

    @davidtheeviloverlord @Soozcat Not to take away from your work, but to add to it: I’m pretty fond of Nevermoor / the Morrigan Crow series because, though not at a magic school per se, Jessica Townsend does her own awesome job of weaving a story of a hurtfully-abandoned child finding family of her own making (set in a world of fantastic themes).

    Without the entire suite of hateful, racist, patriarchal, etc baggage that JKR gave to her world.

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  • Commander Realo :trekbadgetng:jacobrealo@tenforward.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 6:12 PM

    @Soozcat There may be a racial aspect we haven’t touched on. Rowling is a white woman from an English speaking country. Cosby is a black man from an English speaking country. In the United States, the importance of many people who identify as Black/African American (especially with athletes) is their talent. If you are considered to be proficient in some manner in your career field, you gain more acceptance among your non-Black/African American peers. I think Cosby’s career suffered so massively only because of his racial identity. Had he been White, that sentiment to punish him could have been very different.

    Rowling may be keeping their fanbase that survives partly due to this. I can’t prove it but it may inherently at a subconscious level be that for many people. Racism might be the factor that differentiates these two celebrities.

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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Oct 5, 2026, 2:04 AM

    @jacobrealo I remember when the Cosby issues finally came to the forefront, a few people were publicly disgruntled about it, saying (paraphrasing here) "if Cosby were white, he never would have gone to jail." The point is that it's not right for ANYBODY to drug and assault people, but for most of human history it's been possible to get away with just about anything as long as you're white, male and rich.

    IMO that's not a feature, it's a bug. And it needs fixing.

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  • Dustin D. WindMySideIsHumanity@myprivate.social
    Sep 8, 2026, 12:00 AM

    @Soozcat Both claws, or both fangs? 🤔🐍

    (With apologies to our ophioid friends, for the comparison. It just seemed like out of the four houses, she’d be most at home slithering around in the TERF. 😒)

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  • Jules she/herafewbugs@social.coop
    Oct 4, 2026, 9:07 PM

    @Soozcat tangential to your main, important point I know, but if the tshirt is comfy and fits perfectly, rather than getting rid of it I've seen some amazing things people have done painting, appliqueing or embroidering over Harry Potter merch to hide the original design. Have you considered trying that?

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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Oct 5, 2026, 2:06 AM

    @afewbugs I would consider doing that if I still had the shirt. Since composing this (admittedly long) thread in early September, I've removed the shirt from my wardrobe. Well worth considering for other items, though! Thanks.

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  • Master Shake 🥤squishberry@mastodon.world
    Sep 16, 2026, 9:06 PM

    @Soozcat
    In the 1960s I would memorize his stand up routines by listening to the albums which my parents owned. "Why Is There Air" was one of them. I would perform the routines for my parents.

    I remember many of them to this day.

    Fuck that guy. 😡

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  • Joe Brockmeierjzb@hachyderm.io
    Sep 17, 2026, 3:36 AM

    @squishberry @Soozcat yeah. My parents had several Cosby albums, and I played them over and over again.

    I struggle to understand how that Cosby is the same one who drugged and abused women. But I’ll never listen to the albums again and I cringe when something reminds me of one of the routines and I (still) hear his voice in my head.

    HP had much less of an impact on me, but I feel for people who bonded with it and have to face the ugly truth about its creator.

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  • Darwin Woodkadarwinwoodka@mastodon.social
    Oct 3, 2026, 9:52 PM

    @Soozcat I have given up on several authors, probably OSC with the most heartbreak because he was an excellent writer. But hey fuck em if they can't recognize and celebrate everyone's humanity

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  • Mombie 🏳️‍🌈🖖🏼farah@beige.party
    Oct 3, 2026, 10:29 PM

    @Soozcat As someone who went through both of them, this thread is very relatable. I remember being a kid, and allowed to only watch The Cosby Show because it was wholesome. Did it break my heart when I finally found out about him? Sure did!

    Even though I’ve never been attached to Harry Potter that much (I just read the books and maybe did one or two quizzes), Rowling soured the whole experience, specially for young queer kids. So yeah wholeheartedly agree with you on this

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  • Carlcarl@chaos.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 6:49 AM

    @Uair how so, what did he do to validate racism? (Genuine question)

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  • PoloniousmonkUair@autistics.life
    Oct 4, 2026, 8:36 AM

    @carl

    He used to publish op-eds in the newspapers that would get nationally syndicated. He was big on blaming Black people, especially Black men, for systemic oppression. He described it as a personal failing. Black men abandon their kids, and that's why Black people are lower on the economic totem pole than white people.

    Also, the Cosby Show was completely ficticious. This was the 80s. There were maybe five actual Black doctors or lawyers in America. We weren't very far out from outright Jim Crow back then. Cosby sold white America a bill of goods about wholesome and healthy Black families that wasn't in any way real. Of course, all teevee was garbage in the Reagan era, but I could see the not-so-hidden racism in his show.

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  • Charles :trans: , fuck all GenAIcelesteh@hachyderm.io
    Oct 5, 2026, 8:44 AM

    @Uair @carl

    Its hard to find data about black doctors in the 1980s. During the civil rights movement, more than 80% of black doctors were graduates of medical schools at historically black colleges and universities. During the civil rights movement, two new such medical schools were founded.

    In 2020, 5% of US doctors were black, which is less than half what it should be. Black enrolment in medical schools dropped with the end of Affirmative Action programmes.

    There definitely was a black middle class in the 1980s and while there were fewer black doctors than there should have been, the assertion that this was entirely fantasy or racist seems a step too far. Representation in fiction is usually linked to positive outcomes for increasing diversity.

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  • SoozcatSoozcat@raphus.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 7:51 AM

    @raindrops_and_roses I haven't thought to check. But I wrote this one day when I was folding laundry and just thinking about similarities between Rowling and Cosby.

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  • Raindrops and Rosesraindrops_and_roses@mastodon.social
    Oct 4, 2026, 12:59 PM

    @Soozcat It's kind of hilarious because she'd screech in horror to be compared to him, the thought of which, frankly, makes me delight.

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  • Charlie Strosscstross@wandering.shop
    Oct 5, 2026, 8:00 AM

    @Soozcat @youam I was born in late 1964 and I had *no idea* who Bill Cosby was, or even that he existed, until he was put on trial as an abuser and it made worldwide news.

    Please don't assume American culture is universal.

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