The legacy of The Cosby Present was stained after Invoice Cosby was sentenced to jail in 2018 for drugging and sexually assaulting a number of ladies. However actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner is “nonetheless happy with the legacy” the famed present created.
Warner performed the function of Theo Huxtable, considered one of Claire and Heathcliff Huxtable’s 5 youngsters, on the present that ran from 1984 to 1992. Lots has modified within the 30 years because the present went off the air, together with Cosby’s three-to-10-year jail sentence that got here to an finish in June 2021 after the Philadelphia Supreme Courtroom overturned the conviction and freed the disgraced comic.
Nevertheless, regardless of the Cosby scandal and the way it tarnished all he had his title tied to, Malcolm Jamal-Warner continues to be standing behind the beloved sitcom and what it did for the Black group.
“What made it so groundbreaking was its universality,” Warner instructed Individuals. “NBC initially noticed it as a present about an upper-middle-class Black household.”
“Mr. [Bill] Cosby diligently impressed upon them that the present was about an upper-middle-class household that occurred to be Black,” he continued.
The Accused star went on to clarify how The Cosby Present set new milestones within the realm of Black sitcoms and Black illustration on mainstream tv.
“Previous to The Cosby Present, Black sitcom humor was predicated on being Black, the specificity of the ‘Black’ expertise,” Warner defined. “Although the Huxtables had been clearly Black — mirrored fairly clearly by their gown, the Black artwork on the partitions, the music — the household points all had been common.”
“And although Cliff [Cosby] was a physician and Claire [Phylicia Rashad] was an legal professional, the household dynamic was one which virtually each household — irrespective of the ethnicity, socio-economic standing and even household make-up — may discover one thing to narrate to,” he added.
Warner additionally subtly referenced how Cosby’s overturned sexual assault conviction may’ve modified how folks view The Cosby Present right this moment.
“No matter how some folks might really feel concerning the present now,” Warner mentioned.
“I’m nonetheless happy with the legacy and having been part of such an iconic present that had such a profound influence on — at the beginning, Black tradition — but additionally American tradition.”
