On the off chance you needed another reminder that humans are the absolute worst and most likely can't be redeemed before the planet meets its end, the recent media-backed mocking of Geoffrey Owens is a good place to start.
For an unknown reason, some people thought it would be totally normal to shame the former Cosby Show actor for presently being employed by a Trader Joe's store in New Jersey. On Tuesday's Good Morning America, Owens—who played Sondra's Huxtable's husband, Elvin Tibideaux—had a chance to share his side of the viral story.
"It's really overwhelming in a good way," Owens said of the support he's received in the wake of attempted job shaming. "I kinda feel like that character in that Woody Allen movie where he wakes up one morning and he's a celebrity all of a sudden and has no idea where it came from. It came out of nowhere."
Though the pics of Owens at Trader Joe's were initially released—and doctored—with shame as the goal, he noted the public's handling of the story quickly changed the whole narrative.
"This business of my being the Cosby guy who got shamed for working at Trader Joe's, that’s going to pass, in some measure of time, that's going to pass away," said Owens, whose recent credits include Lucifer and Secret Life of the American Teenager. "But I hope what doesn't pass is this idea that people are now rethinking what it means to work, you know, the honor of the working person and the dignity of work. ... There is no job that's better than another job. It might pay better, it might have better benefits, it might look better on a résumé and on paper, but actually it's not better. Every job is worthwhile and valuable, and if we have a rethinking of that because of what's happened to me, that would be great."
Don't, however, feel sorry for Owens. "I've had a great life and I've had a great career," he said Tuesday.
