'How Do We Talk About Bill Cosby?': New Docuseries Wrestles with the Downfall of 'America's Dad'

Showtime's four-part documentary We Need to Talk About Cosby premieres at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 22

Photo: Bastiaan Slabbers/Shutterstock

Several years after disturbing sexual assault allegations first surfaced against Bill Cosby, Americans are still grappling with the reality that the once-idolized comedian and pioneer in television is not the pillar of morality people long believed him to be.

Directed by Emmy-winning comic and TV host W. Kamau Bell of United Shades of America, Showtime's new documentary series — We Need To Talk About Cosby — explores just that.

"Bill Cosby had been one of my heroes," Bell narrates in a new trailer for the show. "I'm a Black man, a stand-up comic, I was born in the '70s."

"But this ... this was complicated," he adds, referring to the harrowing information brought to light by numerous Cosby accusers. "How do we talk about Bill Cosby?"

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To answer his own question, Bell speaks with a lineup of Cosby survivors, cultural commentators, journalists and comedians.

Their interviews and insights — which are spread across four episodes — address the complicated process of changing your opinion on a man firmly rooted in American culture. (Watch the docuseries trailer below.)

We Need To Talk About Cosby premieres at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 22.

The chronicle of his career and downfall reaches mass audiences on Sunday, Jan. 30, when all four episodes will be made available on Showtime.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.