Bill Cosby spokesperson slams 'We Need to Talk About Cosby' and calls director W. Kamau Bell a 'PR hack'

• Bill Cosby has responded to W. Kamau Bell's documentary "We Need to Talk About Cosby."
• In a statement, a Cosby spokesperson described Bell as a "PR hack."

Bill Cosby has released a statement in response to Showtime's upcoming docuseries "We Need to Talk About Cosby," which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival last weekend.

Over the course of four hour-long episodes, the docuseries — which was directed by the comedian and filmmaker W. Kamau Bell — examines Cosby's legacy as a groundbreaking entertainer alongside the sexual-assault allegations that have been made against the comedian and actor by more than 60 women.

In a statement published in Rolling Stone, Andrew Wyatt, a representative for Cosby, said "Mr. Cosby vehemently denies all allegations waged against him" before directly addressing Bell's documentary.

"Let's talk about Bill Cosby," the official statement read. "Mr. Cosby has spent more than 50 years standing with the excluded; made it possible for some to be included; standing with the disenfranchised; and standing with those women and men who were denied respectful work … because of race and gender … within the expanses of the entertainment industries."

The statement continued to describe Bell as a "PR hack" — a pejorative term to describe someone who produces work just for publicity — and said the recent docuseries highlighted how Cosby "continues to be the target of numerous media that have, for too many years, distorted and omitted truths."

"Despite media's repetitive reports of allegations against Mr. Cosby, none have ever been proven in any court of law," the statement read.

Wyatt's statement later made direct reference to Bill Cosby's release from prison in 2021.

Cosby was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault in 2018 and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. Cosby's sentence, however, was overturned last year after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Cosby shouldn't have been charged due to a deal made by a former prosecutor.

"Mr. Cosby knows the realities of prosecutorial violations; and that those violations are threats to the integrity of our nation's criminal justice systems. That is a subject matter for a professional documentary," the statement read.

In "We Need to Talk About Cosby" — which airs on Showtime this Sunday — Bell uses archive footage as well as interviews with comedians, journalists, lawyers, and several of Cosby's sexual assault accusers to examine the comedian and actor's legacy.

In a first-look review of the docuseries, Insider criticized the central thesis of Bell's documentary.

"As the last episode in the series draws to a close, Bell reveals his true preoccupation. 'Can you separate the art from the artist?' he ponders in his concluding statements," the review reads.

"At this moment, the documentary changes. It is no longer an examination of Cosby's legacy but an exercise in endurance. Bell is interested in how bad a set of allegations has to be before fans turn away. This may have been a good starting point for a discussion on the social media app Clubhouse, but it is not a sufficient starting point for a 240-minute Showtime documentary."