Can we reconcile Bill Cosby's alleged sex crimes with his wonderful entertainments?

The comedy legend's rape scandal keeps getting worse. But that doesn't mean you should stop watching reruns of The Cosby Show.

Cosby
(Image credit: (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for New York Comedy Festival))

Here are some facts about Bill Cosby. His show debuted on NBC 30 years ago and became perhaps the perfect sitcom. He is consistently ranked as one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time. He has been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women.

In the mid-2000s, 13 women accused Cosby of sexual assault in a civil suit. They spoke up on the Today show and to People magazine, leaving their stories out in the open domain of the web, where they have been mostly forgotten in the years since. But despite an absence of any new revelations, the charges were thrust back in the spotlight, thanks in part to a recent bit by comedian Hannibal Buress in which he called Cosby a rapist.

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