Judd Apatow on Hollywood’s ‘Slow Evolution’ of Support for Silence Breakers

Judd Apatow was hesitant to return to stand-up, but his new Netflix special doesn’t hold back.

In the special, Apatow jokes about Bill Cosby trying to hide the newspaper from his wife so she can’t read the accusations against him, and in this post-Harvey Weinstein scandal world, the sketch is particularly resonant. Apatow thinks that way the Cosby scandal played out–it ended in a gridlocked jury and declared a mistrial–led people to have a stronger reaction to those who accused Weinstein and others.

During the Cosby trial, “the whole country said wait a second, why did we ignore [the women who came forward]?” Apatow told TheWrap in a recent interview. This paved the way for new silence breakers to be taken more seriously, he said.