Cosby perfected his family-man material during his comedy concerts, like this one at Radio City Music Hall in 1986: "My wife and I have five children … and the reason why we have five children is because we do not want six!"
Bettmann/CORBISThis isn’t what Bill Cosby‘s social media team had in mind when they challenged his Twitter followers to create memes about the comedian.
On Monday, Cosby’s Twitter account tweeted this seemingly innocuous challenge, linking to a meme generator. Both the tweet and the generator have been deleted as of Monday night.
But instead of funny images of Cosby eating jello jigglers or of him being photoshopped into episodes of House of Cards, people began using the contest to repeat allegations that Cosby had drugged and raped multiple women.
Read more Bill Cosby’s Untold Story: Agony, Ambition and a Son’s Tragic Murder
In 2006, Cosby settled out of court with a woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her; 13 other women made similar allegations, and their attorneys planned on bringing them forward in court, according to court documents. Cosby has denied these allegations.
How’s this, did I do this right? RT @BillCosby: Go ahead. Meme me! #CosbyMeme pic.twitter.com/ZS6bvTZCsa
— Jason Steele (@FilmCow) November 10, 2014
Here we go #Cosbymeme pic.twitter.com/HMp1VwoHNk
— S.I. Rosenbaum (@sirosenbaum) November 10, 2014
#CosbyMeme Oh Boy! pic.twitter.com/5shOSuH74c
— E.J. Coughlin (@ejc) November 10, 2014
The mystery behind Cosby’s fashions revealed! #CosbyMeme pic.twitter.com/dgGJuBbSXx
— Myka Fox (@MykaFox) November 10, 2014
I could do this all day. #CosbyMeme #cosbyproblems pic.twitter.com/A8hXSXeh6D
— sideshowRaheem (@sideshowRaheem) November 10, 2014
The memes come as rape allegations against Cosby have resurfaced, thanks to publicity that a new Cosby biography left out the rape claims, as well as a rant from stand-up comedian Hannibal Buress. News in January that NBC was teaming with Cosby for a new sitcom also brought the allegations back to the forefront.
A rep for Cosby did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Email: Aaron.Couch@THR.com
Twitter: @AaronCouch
Nov. 10, 8:23 p.m. Updated to reflect that the tweet had been deleted.
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