Bill Cosby Mourns Over Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Death
Bill Cosby is sharing his thoughts following the death of his on-screen son Malcolm-Jamal Warner at the age of 54. Cosby told ABC News Monday that Warner was always “a great studier” who he enjoyed working with, saying the two continued to speak regularly long after the show ended. Bill Cosby said it’s taking him back to a dark time in his life –referring to his son’s murder. Cosby’s rep, Andrew Wyatt, tells TMZ … when Bill got the call that Warner died on vacation in Costa Rica, it reminded him of being in the studio filming “The Cosby Show” in January 1997, when he got a call informing him that his son Ennis Cosby was shot dead in a failed robbery attempt.
He went on to refer to the relationship as one where he acted as his mentor. The actor, who just celebrated his 88th birthday, feels like “everybody’s leaving,” Wyatt told The Post .The star’s spokesperson also shared that Cosby told him, “While I was their TV dad, I never stopped being a father to them.” Warner played Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” for eight seasons, a role loosely based on Cosby’s own son, Ennis, who passed away in 1997. Wyatt also shared a heartwarming story of a full-circle moment with Warner.“He started with the Cosby show, he was a teenager,” he explained to The Post, adding that Cosby gave Warner his upright bass named after his only son in 2016, more than two decades after “The Cosby Show” ended.He passed the instrument on “so his [Ennis’] legacy would be that he humanized the world,” Wyatt said of Cosby’s son, adding now that Warner’s dead, “he would humanize the world even more.” Wyatt shared that Cosby recently spoke to Warner.“He had just done a concert in Minnesota and called Mr. Cosby and talked about it. They spoke all the time. He said ‘Malcolm was changing humanity,’” he said.
Costa Rican National Police told The Post that Warner was pulled from the water by people in the area and taken to shore, where they desperately attempted to save his life, but it was too late. “The victim appears to have entered the sea and was apparently swept away by a current. The man was rescued by bystanders and taken to shore, where he received treatment from the Costa Rican Red Cross. However, he was pronounced dead at the scene,” the OIJ later confirmed to People. The actor’s body was taken to the morgue at San Joaquin de Flores for an autopsy. His cause of death was listed as asphyxiation by “submersion,” the Costa Rican National Police shared on Monday, July 21.
Warner was handpicked by Cosby for the role of Theo on the family sitcom, which later earned the young star a 1986 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Tributes are pouring in from Jersey City. “The Cosby Show” actor had many fans there because that’s where the future Theodore Huxtable was born. One said “it was cool to see black figures like that on TV” in a hit sitcom and that Warner made an impact on how they saw themselves. Prayers are going forth for Malcolms family.
