WI: Bill Cosby Died in 1993?

Prior to the revelations that he had sexually assaulted numerous women, Bill Cosby was universally adored as a wholesome, benevolent father-like figure who tried to advance the black community's standing in the public eye. What if he died twenty years before the allegations started to be revealed, perhaps of a heart attack of some sort? How would he be remembered in 2016?
 

Ryan

Donor
Perhaps, like jimmy Saville, as soon as he's dead women will stand up and reveal what he did to them in the past, no longer scared of doing like they were whilst he was alive.
 
Ryan is probably right. Cosby might still get pretty shitty reputation. Only change would be that he wouldn't be suffering about that himself.
 
If that happened then at least we of OTL's 2016 wouldn't have to bear dealing with an closet rapist scumbag that's still living and that at least he died a "hero" than live to see himself become the villain; he would be joining OJ Simpson as one of the big names of the 90's associated with tarnishing their good image instead of in the 2010's. And of course the 2004 Fat Albert movie might get butterflied away due to his death ITTL.
 
I don't think Cosby would have been exposed in 1993 had he died then. The culture had to change before the accusations against Cosby were going to be taken seriously. Here the case that exposed Cosby's history never happens-because Cosby isn't around in 2004. I'm not sure if a dead Cosby is as likely to be exposed as a living one once the culture does change. The means by which that happened will not be present if Cosby is dead in the early 1990's. Would a victim from before 1993 be as willing to sue the estate over a decade after Cosby dies? There's also probably statute of limitations or other legal hurdles that would be involved in suing an estate rather than a living individual. Without such a lawsuit-whatever claims that Cosby was a rapist that do show up in post-1993 biographies might be dismissed as the kind of typical spurious post-death accusations that show up in some biographies of celebrities who have died. The inverse is that is there is such a lawsuit-the Cosby estate will not be as able to keep details out of the press as Bill Cosby himself was.

Cosby also would have died before becoming a somewhat politically controversial figure-which also impacts how he's seen.
 
I don't think Cosby would have been exposed in 1993 had he died then. The culture had to change before the accusations against Cosby were going to be taken seriously. Here the case that exposed Cosby's history never happens-because Cosby isn't around in 2004. I'm not sure if a dead Cosby is as likely to be exposed as a living one once the culture does change. The means by which that happened will not be present if Cosby is dead in the early 1990's. Would a victim from before 1993 be as willing to sue the estate over a decade after Cosby dies? There's also probably statute of limitations or other legal hurdles that would be involved in suing an estate rather than a living individual. Without such a lawsuit-whatever claims that Cosby was a rapist that do show up in post-1993 biographies might be dismissed as the kind of typical spurious post-death accusations that show up in some biographies of celebrities who have died. The inverse is that is there is such a lawsuit-the Cosby estate will not be as able to keep details out of the press as Bill Cosby himself was.

Cosby also would have died before becoming a somewhat politically controversial figure-which also impacts how he's seen.
How do you feel he might be remembered in this timeline?
 
Top