For Quincy Jones, nothing is off-limits — except Bill Cosby
Quincy Jones seems to have been sipping on truth serum, because his last two major interviews turned into salacious tell-alls.
The music producer, 84, claims he dated Ivanka Trump. He outed Marlon Brando and Richard Pryor as lovers. He said he saw Ray Charles shoot heroin into his testicles. He turned down Marilyn Monroe. He thinks the Beatles sucked. He alleged that Michael Jackson stole songs. He insisted he knows who killed President John F. Kennedy. The list goes on.
But when talking sexual misconduct in Hollywood with Vulture, he was asked specifically about the alleged behavior of his old pal Bill Cosby — who has publicly been accused of raping, drugging, coercing, or sexually assaulting nearly 50 women since 1965 — and he surprisingly didn’t have anything to say. Instead of answering, he replied, “It was all of them. Brett Ratner. [Harvey] Weinstein. Weinstein — he’s a jive motherf***er. Wouldn’t return my five calls. A bully.”
The interviewer continued to press him, in this exchange:
What about Cosby, though?
What about it?
Were the allegations a surprise to you?
We can’t talk about this in public, man.
In his previous, very buzzy interview with GQ, he didn’t give anything else about the man he recorded albums with. (Jones also composed the theme to The Bill Cosby Show.) During the chat, Jones saw a photo of himself with the disgraced comedian and said, “Cosby … Jesus” without further comment.
While most of the people — sorry, Ivanka — that Jones has dished on recently have passed away, making it easier to tell the tales and not face, say, slander lawsuits (Richard Pryor’s widow actually confirmed that her husband allegedly had a sexual relationship with Marlon Brando), the fact that he has stayed silent on the topic of Cosby hasn’t gone unnoticed. And he’s been called out on social media.
Quincy Jones is perfectly ready to trash anyone and everyone but when it comes to Bill Cosby… pic.twitter.com/30F7EXtKBp
— Miriti Murungi (@NutmegRadio) February 7, 2018
I'm not sure why Quincy can talk about The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and JFK's alleged killer and yet Bill Cosby can't be talked about in public
— Morgan Jerkins (@MorganJerkins) February 7, 2018
Quincy Jones not talking about Cosby told me everything.
— ReasonableDoubtJulius (@FunnyJulius) February 8, 2018
Did you know today would start with Quincy Jones has no problem calling out rape except when Cosby does it? I wasn’t expecting that.
— Rae Sanni (@raesanni) February 7, 2018
Mostly there were funny memes though.
Reporter: who killed JFK
Quincy Jones: *names names*
Reporter: ok now let’s talk about Bill Cosby
Quincy: pic.twitter.com/brVDav72LR
— Eric Haywood (@EricHaywood) February 7, 2018
Reporter: Did Bill Cosby rape any women?
Quincy Jones: pic.twitter.com/7BxdtclseR
— El Capitan (@bomberro2) February 7, 2018
First of all it's just interesting how people are fascinated by the tea in Quincy Jones interview and ignoring the fact he knew about Bill Cosby, Brett Ratner and Weinstein being sexual predators and stayed silent. pic.twitter.com/BzyzeS2u7k
— TayTay (@taysexuality) February 7, 2018
Quincy Jones ran from that Bill Cosby question like pic.twitter.com/2Gv2CnQaGn
— Sandra Ezekwesili (@SEzekwesili) February 8, 2018
Quincy Jones on Bill Cosby pic.twitter.com/pO4AltU7cS
— Devin Nelson (@what_am_idoing) February 8, 2018
Quincy Jones: Let me tell you about that asshole Harvey Weinstein
Interviewer: What do you think about the revelations about him and Bill Cosby?
Quincy: Who?
Interviewer: Bill Cosby, you've. . .
Quincy: pic.twitter.com/KSchQ8cMZ6— Demarcus Robinson (@DOCisChief) February 8, 2018
Quincy when asked about Bill Cosby: pic.twitter.com/BfUxv5CBvV
— MJ (@MJayRawls) February 8, 2018
Interviewer: What about Cosby, though?
Quincy: pic.twitter.com/9NDvU5wU89
— Jessica Cregg (@JessicaCregg) February 8, 2018
It amazes me how much everyone is giving Quincy Jones a pass regarding his silence on Bill Cosby. Meanwhile, some of y’all tried to drag Oprah through the mud just because she’s in pictures with Harvey Weinstein. pic.twitter.com/0nprL2lG6v
— King Quenchi (@MrQuenchiAdams) February 7, 2018
Others didn’t seem surprised, because there are obviously legal ramifications.
Opposite. Cosby is on trial and if Quincy Jones speaks he WILL be required to testify if he says something he might know. https://t.co/iDbDs0maGr
— George M Johnson (@IamGMJohnson) February 8, 2018
Quincy is like a typical grandpa just saying whatever he wants. Well, except for Cosby and he probably doesn’t want to get sued.
— Lorijoe (@Lorijoe5) February 8, 2018
Even Evan Handler, of Sex and the City and Californication, had opinions. He said future interviewers “should hit that a little harder.”
I enjoyed it a lot. Now, am I the only one who noticed that the ONLY thing Q wouldn't comment on publicly was his friend Cosby? Maybe people should hit that a little harder.
— Evan Handler (@EvanHandler) February 8, 2018
For the record, Jones didn’t give much on the Clintons either. He dropped how he was hanging around the White House for eight years when President Clinton was in office, but after offering that Hillary’s keeping secrets hurt her success, he clammed up.
As for the latest on Bill Cosby’s legal saga, his sexual assault retrial is set to begin on April 2. But his lawyers are hard at work in hopes of postponing it. The comedian, who is 80, recently performed in Philadelphia and didn’t mention the allegations against him.