Bill Cosby Meme Controversy

On 10 November 2014, the official Twitter account

of comic Bill Cosby (@BillCosby) sent out a since-deleted tweet inviting fellow Twitter users and the Internet at large to caption "memes" of him on a Bill Cosby meme generator.

Under normal circumstances, such an invitation is iffy at best given social media users' propensity to comply on their own "monkey's paw" type terms. Given the recent attention paid to a number of reported rape allegations made against Cosby in the past (due to a stand-up routine by comedian Hannibal Buress), efforts submitted in response to Cosby's tweet almost exclusively centered upon the sexual assault claims.

Screenshots of the initial tweet circulated:

Users also catalogued what Cosby's team may have expected from the request:

However, the result was predictably different:

On 10 November 2014, the same day the initial request was made, the Bill Cosby meme generator disappeared from the comedian's official website. Neither the actor nor any representatives have commented on the social media controversy.

Last updated:   11 November 2014