Bill Cosby
M. Spencer Green/AP
The comedian and actor, who has been widely quoted recently scolding poorly educated African-American children as "going nowhere," is paying the college tuition for two top high school graduates who have been forced to support themselves financially.
The onetime all-American TV dad read about the African-American students, Loren M. Wilder and Jimmy L. Hester, in a local newspaper near his Massachusetts home. According to The Republican of Springfield, Wilder was 14 when his mother was jailed for drug dealing, while Hester left home at 15 after years of moving around and enduring a volatile relationship with his mother.
Based on that article, Cosby, who turns 67 on Monday, arranged for the new grads to tour three college campuses. This week, they chose to attend Virginia's Hampton University.
"This is all about your careers, your lives," Cosby told the teens as they traveled with him on his private jet, the newspaper reports. "The more you study, the better you do now, the more will open up to you later."
Both young men thanked the entertainer for his generosity – and for his attention to their stories.
"Experiencing this with Mr. Cosby has been great," Wilder said. "Here's a guy who has millions of dollars and he's focusing in on the two of us. It's a good feeling."
Cosby, who has drawn both praise and criticism for his strongly worded comments about black youth, said: "Fifty percent of African-American males drop out of high school. We're talking epidemic here. ... You've got kids who never get told how important it is to study. They've got the designer shirt, but no one's telling them to study. People have to start seeing the light.
"So to find two young men whose values are on the right side, it's refreshing."
