W. Kamau Bell has made a docu-series about troubled comedian Bill Cosby.
“We Need to Talk About Cosby” will premiere on the network Showtime eight days after its first showing at the Sundance Film Festival in January, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I was a huge fan of all his shows and wanted to be a comedian because of him,” the United Shades of America host explained. “I never thought I’d ever wrestle with who we all thought Cosby was and who we now understand him to be. I’m not sure he would want me to do this work, but Cliff Huxtable (Cosby’s character on The Cosby Show) definitely would.”
Throughout the four-part series, Bell explores the comedian’s “desire for power”, his public persona, and the multiple accusations of sexual assault made against him.
“Kamau has bravely ventured into a very complicated and nuanced area of the Bill Cosby story, which has yet to be explored in this depth,” Showtime executive Vinnie Malhotra said of the series. “It’s an important and under-reported perspective on the legacy of one of history’s most iconic African American entertainers.”
In June, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Cosby’s 2018 sexual assault conviction and he was released from prison after serving almost three years of the potential 10-year sentence.