Bill Cosby's decision to cancel his Cincinnati concerts began on an out-of-town radio talk show and ended when a meeting he arranged between boycott supporters and local arts officials broke down.

        For several weeks, the entertainer tried to avoid canceling his March 15 appearances but still show support for boycotters demanding an end to what they call racial injustice.

Cosby

Bev Smith

        In the end, Mr. Cosby canceled, citing the city's racial “climate” and giving new life to a dormant boycott. Singer Smokey Robinson and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis canceled next.

        Interviews with those involved in Mr. Cosby's decision and tape recordings from a radio talk show that played a role provide the first behind-the-scenes account of how Mr. Cosby decided to cancel his Cincinnati events.

        Mr. Cosby wouldn't consent to an interview for this story. The boycott is not a topic that he “wants to be terribly vocal about,” said his publicist, David Brokaw.

        But tapes from a January episode of The Bev Smith Show, a nationally syndicated radio talk program that originates from Pittsburgh, suggest that Mr. Cosby struggled with his decision to cancel while seeking an alternative.

        On that program, Mr. Cosby, a frequent interview guest, said the African-American community shares responsibility for improving the quality of life in Cincinnati.

        He talked about the need for blacks to emphasize education and not destroy the places where they live just because they don't own them.

        “We have to look at those who are just sitting around, doing nothing and those who keep eschewing a philosophy that, "They ain't going to give us nothing. We ain't goin' nowhere. This is not our home, this is their (white people's) world and I'm just in it.'

        “All of these things say, "I am not worthy of being here,'” Mr. Cosby said. “We've got to go through a cleanup.”
       

Struggling with a decision

        Mr. Cosby had been involved in a discussion of the Queen City's racial tension during an interview two weeks earlier on the program. Mr. Cosby is a fan and friend of Ms. Smith, whose radio talk show has a primarily African-American audience. It is heard locally on WDBZ-FM (1230).

        Ms. Smith had visited Cincinnati shortly after the April riots and participated in a “March 4 Justice” rally here in June. She told Mr. Cosby that there were “blatant inequalities” and a lack of sympathy for blacks killed by police or the families they left behind.

        “I told him he shouldn't go,” Ms. Smith said in an interview. He said he'd do some research and think about it.

        After his appearance on the show, Mr. Cosby was inundated with phone calls and letters from the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, a boycott group that's attempting to stop entertainers from booking here. Other African-American residents asked Mr. Cosby not to come to Cincinnati, too.

        Mr. Cosby's manager also spoke with Steve Loftin, executive director of the Cincinnati Arts Association, which runs the Aronoff Center for the Arts where Mr. Cosby was to perform his comedy act. The manager expressed the comedian's reservations about performing. It was the first indication the arts association had that Mr. Cosby was having second thoughts.

        Mr. Loftin declined to discuss in detail what he called “a private conversation.” But he said Mr. Cosby seemed to be very uncomfortable about performing under the racially charged conditions present in Cincinnati. Mr. Loftin also said the tone of the conversation led him to believe that Mr. Cosby was looking for some way to avoid canceling.

        “The manager indicated to me that Mr. Cosby would love to work this out and that canceling was the last thing he wanted to do,” Mr. Loftin said. “He wanted to find a solution that could make both sides happy.”
       

Pressing the issue

        On Jan. 17, Mr. Cosby made a second appearance on Ms. Smith's radio show. The conversation soon turned from health and diet to the Cincinnati boycott.

        “It was his second visit that did it, I think,” Ms. Smith recalled. “By the second visit, people from Cincinnati had gotten to him. The Coalition for a Just Cincinnati had gotten to him and sent him a lot of mail and information about the boycott.”

        During that interview, seven callers from Cincinnati urged that Mr. Cosby not come. Among those who telephoned: Dwight Patton, vice president of the Cincinnati Black United Front, another boycott group; and Amanda Mayes and Michele Taylor-Mitchell of the coalition.

        Ms. Mayes explained that boycotters were asking tourists and entertainers to avoid Cincinnati “until (blacks) see some inclusion, until we see some equality, until we see some justice for our dead.”

        Mr. Patton added his plea:

        “We are having great enough problems where we have to ask you, brother Bill, ... not to come to Cincinnati. You don't have to come, and we're asking you not to come.”

        Mr. Cosby said he was considering the request along with other alternatives.

        “I understand ... I went to the gentleman (Mr. Loftin) and I said, "I don't want to play there,'” Mr. Cosby said. “Then I decided, well, wait a minute, if I say I'm not coming, what is wrong with a dialogue with the theater? The theater may come up with something that may aid the community.

        “And between the two (the coalition and arts association), suppose something came out (of the meeting) that was, in fact, beneficial for the strengthening of education to some of the youth in the Cincinnati lower economic community,” he said. “Well, if that's good. Then that's good. But if the agenda is one that the strength of what is ... trying to be executed is no entertainment, nobody come in, then I will comply with it.”
       

A firm position

        Representatives of the coalition and the arts association met in late January.The coalition explained that it had no personal quarrel with the arts association nor had it asked any artist to break a contract with the venue. The boycott group said its intent was to pressure the city; the arts association was seen as “collateral damage,” Ms. Mayes said.

        “After a while, it became quite clear to us they were firm in their position and there was nothing we could do,” Mr. Loftin said of the meeting. “In fact, at one point we asked specifically if there was anything we could do, and they told us, "There is nothing you can do for us.'”

        Ms. Mayes gives a similar account of the meeting, with a twist.

        “The (arts association) never offered anything,” Ms. Mayes recalled. “We never asked them for money or to meet our demands, but we did expound on them that the business community could use its influence to urge the city to deal with some of these issues. But they never acted as though that was anything they were interested in.”

        On Feb. 6, Mr. Cosby canceled his two scheduled shows. The arts association and the coalition are now entangled in lawsuits.

        Although uncomfortable with playing in Cincinnati, Mr. Cosby was also clear on one thing: If blacks are going to speak out against injustices, they also must accept responsibility and denounce the negatives in their community.

        On the radio show, he spoke of “strangers in the house” — those in the African-American community who prey upon others or engage in unlawful activities that no one should condone.

        “These are the folks who don't get out and say, "Let's vote for the correct politician, not just the one that got rid of our speeding ticket or took care of the parking ticket,'” Mr. Cosby said. “We are talking about the people who have allowed the schools to be taken over by those who don't want education advanced. We are talking about the people who have, by buying drugs, allowed the drug dealers to be a part of the problem.

        “And so we have to look inward and strengthen ourselves within, while we are yelling for those outside (of our community) to take care of things,” he said. “We've got to build within ourselves: integrity, education, belief in spirit, respect of each other and don't be so quick to say, "I was dissed,' therefore you get rid of somebody and take their life.”
       

"He listened'

        Ms. Smith said Mr. Cosby's cancellation speaks to the entertainer's commitment to black people.

        “He heard African-Americans in Cincinnati, he listened and he responded,” Ms. Smith said. “He didn't listen to the almighty dollar.”

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