What Does Bill Cosby’s Release Mean for the #MeToo Movement?
The Waves: Gender, Relationships, Feminism
Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 903 Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2021
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s episode of The Waves, author and professor of history at Georgetown University Marcia Chatelain and Slate staff writer Lili Loofbourow dissect Bill Cosby’s release from prison, and what that could mean for the #MeToo movement. First they unpack exactly what happened in the Cosby case. Then they get into the potential ripple effects it could have on victims seeking justice more broadly.
Recommendations
Lili: The Netflix show Money Heist.
Marcia: As much Real Housewives on Bravo that you can handle.
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Susan Matthews and June Thomas.
Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening ad-free on Amazon Music. |
| 0:03.6 | This is the waves. |
| 0:05.5 | This is the waves. |
| 0:06.6 | This is the waves. |
| 0:07.7 | This is the waves. |
| 0:08.4 | This is the waves. |
| 0:09.5 | This is the waves. |
| 0:10.1 | This is the waves. |
| 0:10.1 | Welcome to the waves, Slate's podcast about gender, feminism, and this week, the release of Bill Cosby |
| 0:22.1 | from prison. I'm Marcia Chathlin, author of the book Franchise, The Golden Arches in Black |
| 0:26.9 | America, and Professor of History at Georgetown University. Every episode, you get a new pair of |
| 0:32.6 | women to talk about the thing we can't get off our minds. And today you've got me thinking about Bill |
| 0:37.8 | Cosby. Me too. And what comes next for survivors of sexual assault? And me, Lily |
| 0:43.9 | Lufborough, a staff writer for Slate, where I cover politics, culture, sometimes comedy, and |
| 0:49.1 | sometimes despair. Many of us were shocked to learn that Bill Cosby was released from prison |
| 0:54.1 | on June 30th, |
| 0:55.3 | after being convicted of sexual assault in 2018. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his |
| 1:00.8 | three to ten years sentence because of an agreement between a former state prosecutor and |
| 1:06.1 | Cosby. This topic has so many layers. The case itself, the way it serves as an outlier in sexual |
| 1:12.9 | assault prosecutions, the tremendous star power of Bill Cosby, and the larger framing of this |
| 1:18.6 | case as emblematic of a Me Too victory. I've been fascinated by this topic because of the ways |
| 1:24.1 | that Cosby's demise wasn't just about Cosby and the survivors. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.