Bill Cosby Calls Himself ‘America’s Dad’ in Father’s Day Instagram Post – It Doesn’t Go Over Great

“This is like the Titanic of bad ideas,” one user tweets

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Jennifer Maas

Father’s Day was celebrated by many on Sunday, including the incarcerated Bill Cosby, who called himself “America’s Dad” in an Instagram post. That label — and the message in general — wasn’t received so well by several users.

“Hey, Hey, Hey…It’s America’s Dad…I know it’s late, but to all of the Dads… It’s an honor to be called a Father, so let’s make today a renewed oath to fulfilling our purpose — strengthening our families and communities,” Cosby’s post read.

It also includes an old clip of the now-disgraced “Cosby Show” star talking about the history of slavery and racism in America.

Andrew Wyatt, a spokesperson for Cosby, told TheWrap on Monday that his client asked a Father’s Day message be posted from him on social media in support of a group called Man Up.

“Mr. Cosby requested last night that a Father’s Day message be posted from him on all of his social media,” Wyatt said in a statement. “When I visited with Mr. Cosby on Thursday, he was overviewing his Father’s Day message that he was excited to give to a support group in the institution called, ‘Man Up.’ Mr. Cosby’s spoke to these men who have been incarcerated for many years, but are up for parole soon…to…take the word ‘disadvantage’ and remove the ‘dis,’ and start focusing on the advantage. That advantage is to be better father’s [sic], to be productive citizens and to remember Never Again, which means, Never Again should you enter this gates to this plantation, because this is the new form of slavery.”

Wyatt added: “Unfortunately, media focused ‘only’ on a handful of negative comments, but refused to publish the thousands of positive comments, which shows that media is not objective, but extremely bias when comes to reporting positive news on my client [Bill Cosby].”

Many reactions to Cosby’s Father’s Day message — which was posted to his Twitter account after first appearing on Instagram — were along the lines of the one tweeted by “The Wire” creator David Simon who simply wrote, “Please stop.”

One Twitter user shared a GIF of “Orange Is the New Black” character Taystee saying, “This is like the Titanic of bad ideas.” “I prefer my TV dad’s less ‘handsy,’” another wrote.

But there were also some positive responses, like this: “Indeed Mr.Cosby. Thanks for doing your best to be a good guy over the years. I will never forget the good you have done, no matter how many false accusations come your way, and no matter what happened.”

Cosby, 81, has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, a number of whom have accused the comedian of drugging them beforehand. Cosby has denied the accusations.

He is currently serving a sentence of three to 10 years in a Pennsylvania state correctional facility, after being found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault in April 2018.

The conviction stemmed from the accusations of former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, who said that the comedian drugged and molested her at his Pennsylvania home in 2004.

See more responses to Cosby’s post below.

https://twitter.com/1IronMan2020/status/1140440028327399426

https://twitter.com/dizzmancan/status/1140475161730150405

https://twitter.com/Chinchillazllla/status/1140463055089913856

https://twitter.com/ASSH0LE_My_guy/status/1140461356371439616

Jennifer Maas

Jennifer Maas

TV Reporter • jennifer.maas@thewrap.com • Twitter: @jmaasaronson

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