The 2009 journalistic-political drama “State of Play” has brief scene at a hamburger joint where this sign was hanging. The scene takes place at the actual D.C. restaurant “Ben’s Chili Bowl”, where Cosby had been a loyal customer, which makes this sign not a joke, but real life. It stands together beautifully with all the naive Cosby adulations that got published during this time between rape allegations (2005) and the public acknowledgement of them (2014) –even though gossip of the rapes had been floating around during this period. They serve as a great warning against making gods out of people. No-one should Eat Free at Ben’s, no-one deserves a star treatment, people are people, they might be funny, they might be philanthropic, but you never know if they’ve given quaaludes to women to rape them. Oh the beauty of hindsight… It turns “State of Play” from a fanciful conspiracy plot into a piece of historical evidence of the frivolity of glorifying living men.
