Ebony's November 2015 cover is upsetting a lot of Cosby Show fans, while two former cast members, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Raven-Symoné, have also weighed in.
The image depicts a smashed glass-covered vintage photo of Bill Cosby, who has for exactly one year made headlines over resurfaced sexual assault allegations, and the rest of the cast of the hit '80s family comedy series. The actor's face bears the brunt of the simulated impact. The cover teases the cover story, "Cliff-Hanger: Can The Cosby Show Survive? Should It?"
"Ignorant cover. Shame on you!!!!!! Huxtables are fictional......" one reader wrote on the magazine's Facebook page.
"The cover breaks my heart," another person said.
Others have defended it.
"MANNNN @EbonyMag went where it needed to go. This cover is instantly iconic. Props to @kiernamayo and team!" one person tweeted.
"This is our annual Family Issue and we decided, after much deliberation, to go with a focus on what we felt was an urgent and provocative conversation happening within the Black community," Ebony said in a statement to E! News. "It wasn't just about making a statement; the cover is also asking questions."
"Can we separate the man with 50 or more allegations of sexual assault and related crimes against him from the fictional, heroic father?" the statement said. "Should we? I think it is fair to say that no matter what someone feels about our cover, Ebony is not the reason there is a shattered family image we are dealing with. This is a moment of reflection, for many Black people, a painful one for different reasons."
"#BlackTwitter vs #BlackFacebook. #CosbyvsCliff has some Black people maaaaad and some Black people glaaaaad. I love us. #BlackFamilyIssues," Ebony Editor-in-Chief Kierna Mayo added on Twitter.
The Cosby Show aired for eight seasons. Exactly one year ago, on Oct. 16, 2014, comedian Hannibal Buress talked about Cosby's past sexual assault allegations during a comedy show." Someone recorded his act and posted the clip online, where it went viral and sparked the new scandal. A month later, cable channel TV Land stopped airing re-runs of The Cosby Show.
Cosby's lawyers have denied any wrongdoing by the comedian and actor. He has never been criminally charged over the allegations.
Warner, 45, played Theo Huxtable, the son of Cosby's character, Dr. Cliff Huxtable, an OB/GYN. Warner talked about the Ebony cover on Friday on The View, where he reunited with panelist Raven-Symoné, 29, who played his step-niece and Cliff's little granddaughter, Olivia.
"We really don't have enough time on this show to really talk about how I feel about that," the actor said.
"Let's not forget that The Cosby Show was a sitcom and not a reality show," Raven-Symoné added. "Let's just remember that this was a sitcom and we had writers and things of that nature."
"That's the show that we've all very proud to have been on," Warner said.
Warner had said earlier this month the legacy of The Cosby Show was tarnished due to Cosby's sexual assault scandal.
"When we've had images that perpetuate the negative stereotype of people of color, we've always had The Cosby Show to hold up against that," he said. "And the fact that we no longer have that, kinda leaves us not in a great place in terms of having the wide scope of the images of people of color."
Keshia Knight Pulliam, 36, who played Theo's sister Rudy Huxtable, told TheGrio she hoped The Cosby Show's image was not tarnished by the scandal, adding, "based upon the people that continuously approach me and talk about how it's profoundly impacted their lives, I don't feel you can take that back."
"The generation of people of color who have chosen to go to college because they watched that show...you can't take that away," Warner said on The View.