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Bill Cosby: Grand Theft Auto is Entrance Exam for Prison

GamingPolitics:

"Comedian and activist Bill Cosby likened Grand Theft Auto to a prison prep course during an appearance in Greenwood, Mississippi on Thursday.

Cosby, who urged the local African-American community to take an active role in bettering their neighborhood, dismissed Rockstar's controversial game series, saying:

"Cost your mother $250 to buy that for you so you can practice your entrance exam (to prison)."

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Jack007 - contributor
Published: 404 days 8 hours ago | News | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | Gaming

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Silogon - 404 days 15 hours ago

1 -

It's probably safe to say Bill's best days are behind him... But I agree with his statements here. GTA is nothing short of a waste of time, just like being in prison.

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lokiroo420 - 404 days 8 hours ago

1.1 -

As an activist for african american welfare, shouldnt his efforts be directed towards something a little more prevalent than video game violence? Maybe Bill needs an examination of his priorities and focus them a bit better.

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Just passing by - 404 days 6 hours ago

1.2 - I agreed

My opinion its this: If you love games like GTA & Saints Row you are a high potential criminal. The games you like are a reflex of the kind of person you wanna be. Example: I like speed = Ace Combat, Forza2, Mirors Edge. I like Fighting Evil = Well almost all video games. I like to be part of the Bad Guys = Saints Row, GTA, Fable, Kotor etc. My point here its that in a game you can express yourself and a good example its Fable and other games that give you the oportunity to be whatever you want to be. I have friends that have evil characters to the maximum in fable THE REASON ? I DONT KNOW but looks like they like to be like that. NOW i like to be the good guy in my games. Where is the fun of just take a bat and hit somebody in the head just for fun and keep doing it for 15 minutes in a game? And maybe your answer will be, well in real life i dont do that because its wrong? Or it is because they can catch you and pay in prison? But you like the idea right? GTA & Saints Row its a training ground for theft and violence. I sometimes wonder WHY PEOPLE DEFEND A GAME LIKE GTA SO BAD.

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SRU9600 - 404 days 6 hours ago

1.3 -

Bill Cosby is one of the few black males that actually speaks the truth when it comes to inner city black families. Many of them are morally bankrupt and live like animals, and he is obviously pained by it.

His concerns regarding GTA are part of a bigger picture, but they will be taken out of context and used to belittle him, which is a shame.

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baseballkid721 - 404 days 6 hours ago

1.4 - @Just passing by

GTA is one of my favorite games... does that mean that i'm a criminal??? hell i feel bad killing people in the game when i have to, like killing vlad in the beginning... i wont even come close to touch a real gun unless if i was in some sort of life-threatening situation

i defend GTA so bad because its JUST A F*CKING GAME

it all comes down to the parents' responsibility for those in prison

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mikeslemonade - 404 days 5 hours ago

1.5 -

Wow I'd never thought to associate Bill Cosby with no fun. Even though GTA4 isn't a true next generation GTA that is uncalled for from Bill Cosby.

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Enigma_2099 - 403 days 11 hours ago

1.6 - @Just passing by

... and just how many kids from normal, safe, well adjusted families with loving parents that are attentive and understanding and actually know their duties as parents and perform them dilligently, do you know of that have been completely corrupted into the worst dregs of society after being exposed to the GTA games? Why don't we have more gun-toting psycopaths out there who were obviously influenced by games like Gears of War or Restance? Can you answer that?

You wonder why we defend GTA so bad? The same reason why people like you, and now apparently, the Coz vilify it... because we can. the only difference being we can PROVE our argument.

Take me, for example. I own practically EVERY GTA game save the GBA version... even the PS1 London Expansion pack, and not only am I NOT a criminal or prison inmate, I'm holding down a 9 to 5... granted I also HATE my job, but I haven't gone postal either!

Rockstar has proven to be the favorite target of people like this for one reason and one reason alone... it's one of the most popular game franchises of all time... yeah I said it. if there was any merit to this argument, then why aren't all games like this mentioned? Why not Saint's Row?

I'd answer that for you, but I hate repeating myself.

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TheWickedOne - 403 days 11 hours ago

1.7 -

GTA4 sucked

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Lifendz - 403 days 10 hours ago

1.8 - Once again Silogon, you missed the point

His statement isn't that GTAIV is a waste of time; his statement is that by buying the game you're becomming a criminal. He's saying the game makes you a criminal. And as a gamer you should take great offense to that. I play GTA, Gears, R2, God of War, and I also play LittleBigPlanet and Madden. I guess if it weren't for the latter I'd be murdering people according to Bill's logic. The problem isn't games, the proble is the family structure and diluted morales of today. You could get rid of EVERY violent videogame, movie, etc and we'd still have suicide, murder, and high crime in the inner city. More than a videogame is responsible for society's ills.

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the4time2doctor0 - 404 days 11 hours ago

2 -

jello pudding

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2.1 vickers500 | 404 days 7 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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ahnonamis - 404 days 7 hours ago

2.2 -

Never have truer words been spoken.

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thewolf5 - 404 days 4 hours ago

2.3 -

epic, words of true beauty

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3 Blademask | 404 days 8 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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cereal_killa - 404 days 7 hours ago

3.1 -

Although I agree let me just say that if parents actually look and care about what games they buy for there kids instead of the "If it shuts the kid up so I can relax in peace" attitude maybe we wouldn't have to hear crap like this. Bill Cosby is an icon but is going the wrong way in this, stop blaming the Games, Music and Movies start looking at the bad parenting problem we have and it always leads to lets blame something besides I'm a crappy parent.

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Kyur4ThePain - 404 days 6 hours ago

3.2 - Famous

SR just isn't as well known as GTA.

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ukilnme - 404 days 8 hours ago

4 - Was this from Delirious or RAW?

Tell Bill to have a coke and a smile and STFU.

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cereal_killa - 404 days 7 hours ago

4.1 -

I believe it was from Delirious... If I'm not mistaken Eddie was impersonating Richard Prior and Bill Cosby made a comment about why you have to swear in his comedy routine.

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KazumaKiryu - 404 days 6 hours ago

4.2 -

I'm pretty sure it was RAW.

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gamesmaster - 404 days 6 hours ago

4.3 -

it was from raw. i have the double bill boxset.

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AYO - 404 days 8 hours ago

5 - A little test experiment....

How about all these people that are against video games and violence in games, actually sit down and try to play one. If that game actually makes you want to go out and hurt or maybe kill someone, then you win. You would have proved your point. What do you guys think, does that seem fair? Any takers

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gamesmaster - 404 days 6 hours ago

5.1 -

its not that simple i'm afraid, not everyone that watches say, a violent movie and has the urge to kill, the same can be said for video games. but now we're out of our depth this is Grey territory. violence can always be blamed on computer games but in the end its down to individuals own mental stability, which is always intangible. its ones own self which dictates whether or not you're a sociopath or safe.

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Jamegohanssj5 - 404 days 7 hours ago

6 -

Theo plays GTA though.

TGSI

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yoshiroaka - 404 days 7 hours ago

7 - woah

is he still alive?
screw old people!!
they know nothing!!!

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gamesmaster - 404 days 6 hours ago

7.1 -

yeah of course they dont, u f*cking ungrateful sh*t they only died frighting nazi scum to defned whats right for you. go bakc to taking racist slander on xbox live!

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yoshiroaka - 403 days 16 hours ago

7.2 -

relax dude, i was just kidding.
dont take everything so seriously.
p.s. i dont play on LIVE

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gamesmaster - 403 days 16 hours ago

7.3 -

wow sorry man, i'm not even kidding when i say i came back from a party in my halls at university drunk as hell and posted that reply last night. again i am very sorry.

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sinny - 404 days 7 hours ago

8 - Oh nooooooooooooo!

I passed the entrance exam to prisooon T_T
i don't want to go there , i will play GTA IV just to fail this time

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Strelnikov - 404 days 7 hours ago

8.1 -

I aced it... twice
I'm not in jail yet, I wonder what's taking so long.

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DeathroW22 - 404 days 7 hours ago

9 - Why are there

So many retarded people in this world?

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OnslaughtX - 404 days 7 hours ago

10 -

Yay! I passed my prison exam!

I also just finished Apollo Justice, so I'm sure to pass my bar exam!

Trauma Center next! Time to be a doctor too!

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pwnsause - 404 days 7 hours ago

11 -

He is an old school person, back when he was young, video games never existed. People and Politics change with the times.

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geda - 404 days 7 hours ago

12 -

you know, hate me if you want, but as a gamer I can't say I disagree completely

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Delive - 404 days 6 hours ago

13 - If that is the case, I would never make it to prison

I usually kill myself while trying to evade the cops.

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14 Crazywhitie | 404 days 6 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Mars Attacker - 404 days 6 hours ago

15 -

GTA is pure stupidity. I bought GTA4 just to see what all the hype was about. After a few hours of play I put it up on eBay. I agree with Bill.

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name - 404 days 5 hours ago

16 -

This is gonna be interesting. The same people who like to blame rap for things hate people who blame video games. So what you're gonna see is someone who loves bill cosby because of his hatred of rap music, but disagree with him because of his hatred of video games.

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NaiNaiNai - 404 days 5 hours ago

17 -

well i lost my respect for this guy now, he used to keep a open mind, now i hope he just dies, pathetic old man wanting attention. go to He11 cosby, you belong there now.
-nai-

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Raoh - 404 days 5 hours ago

18 -

LOL

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NMC2007 - 404 days 4 hours ago

19 - LMAO!!!!!

LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Oh Bill, this is the first time you ever made me laugh. Awesome.

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Apocalypse Shadow - 404 days 3 hours ago

20 - some of you just don't make sense or have sense.

"i lost all respect for him."

you never had any respect for him to begin with to lose.and you disregard what he says like children usually do with their elders.

cosby knows full well that it takes parenting to raise children properly.and hopefully,there are two parents to do that.the man made a cartoon that taught values and created a hit comedy show that taught the same thing:respect,values,morals and family.

he's not saying you will go out after playing gta or any other game and commit crimes.he's saying you will learn alot from that TYPE of game that has no value to a civilized community.and i play those games and have gta.but i had great parents that taught me well.

never been arrested.never went to juvi.never committed crimes.

but the game teaches how:

to steal cars
to kill with different types of weapons.
to not respect life of another.
to create chaos where there wasn't any.

but what i say will fall on deaf ears because you take what he says out of context as people usually do when it targets your favorite thing.

i listened to gangster rap some time ago.some of the lyrics talked about killing cops and F the police.but those same hoodlums would be happy to have police arrive to save their @ss when the bullets start flying.but now i rarely listen to it at all if ever unless it's old west coast flavor to reminiss over like DRE and SNOOP.

he's saying that the game will teach how to do bad things.not that you will go do them unless you're an individual that takes it in wrong.and we have seen many stupid idiots blame gta for going out in society and commiting crimes.

what he said targets those that don't know better.so if the shoe doesn't fit,don't try it on and mock what he says.but know that many youth know full well how that game plays and will try to duplicate some of it if not raised properly.

apocalypse..................

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WAR_MACHINE77 - 403 days 21 hours ago

20.1 -

bubbles for you my good man! some one around here really seems to get what the man was saying. People are products of their environment and with no guidance they can easily take bad ideas and run with them. He's not attacking video games but saying young black men and women need to do something more constructive with their time other than exposing themselves to more violence and adding to an increasingly more self destructive culture.

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Sitdown - 403 days 13 hours ago

20.2 - I did not click disagree...

but I do disagree with you on some points. GTA IV does not teach you how to steal and shoot people...because I am sure such activities are a whole lot more complex in real life. What I do believe such games can do....is make you desensitized to the behaviors, so should you encounter them in your real life...they do not necessarily seen out of place. On the flip side of that, such video games do serve there person.......look at flight simulators. You rather people crash in a simulator rather than be out in the real world and crash. So with such games as GTA....I would prefer to allow a potential criminal to get his kicks while in the comfort of their on home...rather than having to get their release by going outside and committing these crimes in society. Like some counselors will tell you...if you can not get an individual to control their anger....it is better to have them punch a pillow rather than punching their spouse....and then you work from there.

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Slinger420 - 404 days 3 hours ago

21 -

ukilnme wrote "tell Bill to have a coke and a smile and STFU." I love that line, is it Chapelle show? I can't remember. Great line though

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RebornSpy - 404 days 3 hours ago

22 - OMG!!!

I passed...

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nombon - 404 days 3 hours ago

23 - LOL

@just passing by

r u mentally retarded, u must be a little wiener kid to always wanna be a "good guy" maybe you have been sheltered all ur life but real life dont work like that. even the good guys do bad things to do right things like killing or hurting people to save innocent poepl or some sh!t. when you play a GAME its just fun to cause chaos. its fun because its virtual and not real. I will defend gta 4 to tthe grave but saint row 2 sux u can bomb that all u want. but if u say stuff like u think only being good in games is fun then you should just stick to playing crappy super heroe games based on movies like spiddr man or something. and laastly if u agree with cosby u must certainly be on crack. video games dont make black people or anyother person evil. it is a combonation of their home environment and other things that condition a child from innocence to evil. because in reality everyone is born "good" its just the way your brought up which makes u the way u r so blaming a piece of media is pathetic, when instead of playing the blame game people should actually try to fix the problem

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GlossGreen - 403 days 19 hours ago

23.1 - R U

too retarded to use real words instead of shorthand? I don't know about anyone else here, but by writing that way you just lost any credibility you may have had. I say "may" because your comment hurts my eyes just to look at it, never mind actually reading it.

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andron666 - 403 days 22 hours ago

24 - He should be commended for telling people to take charge off their own life...

But the GTA comment is way off. He's just showing his age there.

The rest of his speech has some good points though...

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GlossGreen - 403 days 22 hours ago

25 - OK,

then by his logic we should have seen an increase of prison inmates skyrocket over the last 8 years since the first game. From 2000 to 2006 the prison populations increased a total of 2.6 per year. Wait, what's that? Numbers of prisoners has gone down from 2.6% to 1.8% in 2007. Sounds like GTA has had no effect to me.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bj...

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LeShin - 403 days 19 hours ago

26 -

There are so many retarded kids on this site, it's unbelievable...

"I'll defend GTA4 to the grave" (Were you a dev on the game? do you have stock in the company?)

"Old people should just die" (Does that include your mum as well? lol)

There are much better ways to argue your point!

I don't necessarily agree with Bill, about GTA4 (though I think it was crap, prefer Saints Row 2) as there are a billion other violent games (FPS's) and films (Hostel, Saw) which are the same if not far worse! More importantly carjacking, shootings, rape, robbings have been happening WAY before GTA came along. I do sympathize though as not many people know that Bill lost a young son to a carjacking a few years ago in a really horrible incident.

What I'm going to say next will sound a little weird but whatever. One of the reasons I like playing video games is the sense of control I get. What I mean is, video games "usually" have this "Good Vs Evil" themes in them. When someone or something wrongs me, I can go shoot/kick/slice the crap out of them and get the feeling like justice has been served and walk away pretty satisfied with myself. In contrast, in real life, if someone wrongs me, I feel I have NO control about any retribution that should be given. This society treats criminals like bloody victims and THAT can't be blamed on videogames or ANY media.

Case in point,

A few months ago, some group of idiots vandalized my car. When I found out who they were, I went to the police (ONLY because my ex and my mum told me too, knowing I would do something crazy soon) and lo and behold, they didn't do a damn thing and left me with a wreck even when they knew who did it and where they lived. So I thought "screw this!" got some friends, went round where these guys lived, asked "nicely" for them to repair the damage, which they refused, so we beat the living $hit outta of them, which funnily enough persuaded them to part with their cash and I got my car fully repaired!

Of course, I nearly got prosecuted in the process (You gotta love this world...)

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1 360_Rules | 404 days 7 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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AngryTypingGuy - 404 days 5 hours ago

1.1 -

You're absolutely right. Video games don't help spread a "kill the cops", "kill whitey" and "don't snitch" attitude.

I know you can kill cops in GTA, but that game is so over the top that only the most idiotic people in society would look at the stuff you do in that game as something they can do in real life, with the exception of literally committing grand theft auto.

I say cut Cosby a break though. Sure he's a little out of touch with video games, but at the same time he has a positive message for troubled inner-city black kids. He says that "the man" doesn't keep them down, only they do. And it's true. We live in a country where anyone of any color can be whatever they want. Look at Obama for instance. Here you have a guy who's 50% black, and he has a name that sounds like it could belong to a terrorist. Yet many people, including myself, voted for him and want to see him succeed.

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White-Sharingan - 404 days 7 hours ago

2 -

hmm my two loves

Bill Cosby and GTA

what to do; what to do?

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NegativeCreep427 - 404 days 6 hours ago

3 -

Now I'm in the mood for some Jeeelllooo Puuuudin'

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MediaSpin360 - 404 days 6 hours ago

4 - Bill Cosby

Now theres someone who wont be able to argue back shortly.

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Boty - 403 days 13 hours ago

5 - Man! I love Bill!

Hes funny and amazing! GTA IV is fun. I still like Bill!

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