Paternity

Re “Paternity Is the Truth Test for America’s Favorite Dad,” Commentary, July 18:

I know blaming everyone else for their actions is the usual cop-out for criminals, but for columnist Ellen Goodman to embrace this theory and all but blame Bill Cosby for the sadistic extortion attempt against him is just plain pathetic.

Goodman clearly missed the whole point of the extortion charges against Autumn Jackson and her cohorts; the girl wasn’t trying to reach out to a “father figure” who admittedly helped support her and other children in need; she tried to blackmail a celebrity who she saw as a fancy meal ticket.

And the vicious and cruel time and opportunity she chose to make her demands do not bear the mark of a “wounded child,” but that of a spoiled, selfish person who preferred to live off someone else’s honest work and bear none of the consequences.

No, the justifiable refusal of Cosby to take a paternity test just to satisfy the gossip-mongers and tabloid queens does nothing to diminish a man who in the midst of his own grief has comforted others who have lost loved ones. Jackson forfeited any such consideration when she betrayed Cosby’s generosity for her own particular pound of flesh; no “father hunger” can excuse this.

JULIE T. BYERS

Temple City