Former Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens re-entered the public conversation after photographs of him working at Trader Joe’s in New Jersey went viral. While the photographer Karma Lawrence said she didn’t send the pictures out to websites for money or to embarrass Owens, he is taking everything in stride.
Hollywood rallied behind the Yale alumni, and Tyler Perry voiced his support and offered him an acting job on one of his shows. It appears he was not bluffing either, because TMZ reports that Owens will appear on not one, not two…but ten episodes of Perry’s hit show The Haves and the Have Nots.
Owens is reportedly flying out to Atlanta to shoot the show next week. There’s no word as to what type of role he will portray on the show, but we’re excited for this new chapter in his acting career.
During an interview with Good Morning America, Owens said he hopes that job-shaming can end in the near future, because all jobs are important and necessary.
“I hope what doesn’t pass is this re-thinking about what it means to work…” he said. “A re-evaluation of the idea that some jobs are better than others, because that’s actually not true… Every job is worthwhile and valuable and if we have kind of a re-thinking about that because of what’s happened to me, that would be great.”
READ MORE: Tyler Perry Offers Geoffrey Owens An Acting Gig Amid Trader Joe’s Job Shaming