Mommyish Reacts: Tina Fey And Amy Poehler’s Cosby Joke At The Golden Globes Last Night – Yay or Nay?

The Golden Globes were last night, and unless you live in a cave or care nothing about pop culture, you’ve probably heard about Amy Poehler and Tina Fey‘s monologue: specifically, their Bill Cosby rape bit. Here’s a clip in case you were actually doing something constructive with your evening instead of watching this awards show like the rest of us:
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There are two very different reactions surfacing about the joke: the first is that joking about rape is never okay, and the second is basically good for them for calling him out. What do you think? The Mommyish writers are torn, so we’ll all weigh in separately:

Maria: Yes on calling out Bill Cosby, no on ever making light of drugging women. I understand that one can’t really exist without the other in this scenario, but although I was happy to see the two women go there in such a public way, something still felt not quite right about making light of all of these horrific accusations. When you think about the fact that these allegations began getting serious attention after a stand-up act, I guess I ultimately have to go with “yay.”

Kate: I guffawed loudly during this back and forth, particularly when Amy acted as though she was chastising Tina for making the joke, but then was simply just criticizing her Cosby impression. I thought the entire moment was brilliant: a confident and cutting commentary on Cosby from women who have taken him to task before. New Yorker  TV critic Emily Nussbaum summed up the moment perfectly on twitter:

Aimee: Rapists are valid targets for jokes; rape victims are not. Cosby needs to be called out, as the awkward, nervous laughter in the room at the Golden Globes proves – and if this isn’t the perfect feminist “nailed it” moment I would have liked to see, at least it’s good to hear celebrities calling each other out for their crimes (instead of, say, the Woody Allen love-fest that we get from the Oscars).

Valerie: I don’t think they had a choice as far as bringing it up. Had they remained silent, that would have been widely criticized as well. I thought their method of mocking him with his own comedy was brilliant. I do agree that it crosses the line to mock drugging women and raping them but they were not poking fun at those women- they were poking fun at the man who, after getting away with it for years, is finally being shown for who he really is. It worked for me.

Meredith: I loved the jokes and applaud them for going there. Cosby is a powerful figure in Hollywood and his history of taking advantage of women has been an open secret for a long time. For Tina and Amy to use this platform to basically give him a big “F*** You” was like a warm hug. And I agree with Valerie – they were in no way shape or form making fun of rape of his victims. A large part of the resaon he got away with it for so long was because he was able to use his power to intimidate women into silence. So it was a beautiful act of justice for two women to call him out for being the predator that he is.

Liz: I think Fey and Poehler deserve a slow clap for calling out Bill Cosby on stage at the Golden Globes. That’s quite the bold venue for such a statement. Their Cosby impressions did not feel to me like they ever crossed the line into mocking rape victims or making light of the allegations so much as it felt like they were making fun of Cosby specifically, using his very familiar “everyone’s favorite dad” persona against him.

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