Schumer Cosby Skit Was Brilliant
In the skit, Schumer played Cosby’s defense lawyer.
First, Amy jokes about “her mentor” Bill Cosby. The sketch has barely begun, and she’s already made at least three jokes many comics wouldn’t have touched.
Then the sketch takes us to the trial of Cosby vs. The Public in the “court of public opinion” — since, the sketch hints, Cosby won’t likely be tried in an actual court — where Schumer defends Cosby to a jury.
The sketch eviscerates the idea that Cosby should somehow get a pass because of his beloved television show.
“Let’s remind ourselves what’s at stake here. If convicted, the next time you put on a rerun of The Cosby Show you may wince a little. Might feel a little pang,” Schumer says to the jury members, after gifting them with Jell-O pudding pops and sweaters similar to the ones Cosby has famously worn in the past. “And none of us deserve that. We don’t deserve to feel that pang. We deserve to dance like no one’s watching, and watch like no one’s raping.”
“I think at some point between the 30th and 100th woman coming out and saying they’d been raped by Cosby, it felt like something we wanted to talk about on the show,” the show’s head writer Jessi Klein said in an emailed statement to TIME. “We also couldn’t believe how many people were still reluctant to believe that these accusations could be true. It would be one thing to say you’re not sure, but it felt like a lot of voices were just adamant it wasn’t possible.”
Cosby has never been charged with a crime. More than 30 women have accused the 77-year-old of sexual assault.
