Last week some bitch took photos of The Cosby Show’s Geoffrey Wilson working at a Trader Joe’s in New Jersey to make ends meet and sold them to the highest bidder. Those photos went viral and the reaction has been utterly amazing. Not only did Hollywood celebrities come out and support him, so did the average Joes.
Since he is one of the few actors who does not have social media, we did not know how he was handling it all. Today, he broke his silence to Good Morning America, and he is even more of an admirable man.
When the news initially broke, he was devastated. But there has been such an amazing outpouring of support that that feeling of shame did not last long.
He explained to Robin Roberts that even though he was teaching, acting and directing; it was just not enough to pay the bills. Therefore, he got this job that allowed him the flexibility to still audition and do the whatever roles came his way.
Owens also says he did not want to go public because he feared the acting community would perceive it as he has given up. Far from it. Like so many actors, he needed a job that would pay the bills. Actors like Patricia Heaton, Halle Berry, Bradford Anderson and Pamela Adlon all shared their stories about working other jobs while being employed as actors.
Even his Cosby co-star Malcolm-Jamal Warner supported him. He wrote, “Just when most of us get sick and tired of social media and how heartbreaking it can be, something heartwarming like this happens. I can’t express to you how full my heart is seeing how social media has rallied behind and supports Geoffrey Owens.” Then he added, “Geoffrey is a good dude. It’s actually a distinguishing quality of his. So it’s no wonder that he is willing to do whatever he needs to do legally to take care of his family.”
Jamal then told us about his friend, “What people don’t know about Geoffrey is that not only did he graduate cum laude from Yale, but he is an accomplished theater actor (pre and post Cosby). His intimate knowledge of Shakespeare as an actor and director puts many of us to shame. And in a way we should thank Fox News and the miserable fucks for their attempt to job shame him. With the love and support he’s getting from everybody, he’s about to get more work.”
On that note, even Tyler Perry offered him a job on one of his OWN show. Owens addressed getting job offers like that. He wants to get cast on merit, not because of sympathy. Which I do not think will be a problem for him. Not only is a very good looking man, he is also extremely talented. That and he appears to be a really nice positive guy. Who doesn’t want someone like him on the set? Better than some of those sourpusses who will remain nameless.
What he wants us to take away from this is that every job is worthwhile. No job is better than any other. I know I have had jobs and people tell me that they are so cool. At the end of the day, I went to work like everyone else and dreaded going there on some days.
He closed out his interview by saying, “No one should feel sorry for me either from a positive or a negative perspective. I have had a great life. I’ve had a great career. I’ve had a career that most actors would really die for.” Then he added, “No one has to feel sorry for me. I’m doing fine.”
Although, he did just quit his job at Trader Joe’s that he had for 15 months because of the exposure. I think he will be OK because I have a feeling he will be getting a lot of acting exposure.
