Geoffrey Owens Says He Got A Job At Trader Joe’s Because Cosby’s Scandal Stopped His Royalty Checks + Actor Lands ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Gig

Geoffrey Owens

Geoffrey Owens Says He Got A Job At Trader Joe’s Because Cosby’s Scandal Stopped His Royalty Checks + Actor Lands ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Gig

In a new interview, Geoffrey Owens reveals what led him to find employment outside of the entertainment industry. According to Owens, in lieu of the accusations and conviction of Bill Cosby, he was bringing in less income. In fact, he says that he was receiving royalty checks from the reruns, but once reruns were pulled from syndication, the checks stop coming. Once he picked up his cashier job at Trader Joe’s, he was planning on it to be an alternative way for him to make an honest living while he was in between acting jobs. After discovering he was plastered all over social media, he was “hurt.” He said,

I felt really humiliated. From the time that I heard that the article might be done to the time it came out, I tried to envision the worse case scenario just to prepare myself and then it was just a little bit worse. If that was possible. They went out of their way to find the very worst picture of me, in the worst shirt and the worst posture. The words they used to describe me were so demeaning. It hurt.

He explains how he was impacted financially from the Cosby show being removed from syndication,

At the time that the show was pulled, that did make a difference in our income. That was one of the elements that led to my getting to the place where I said to myself, ‘I have to do something’ and I was thinking, ‘What can I do?’ and the answer ended up being Trader Joe’s, which is actually a wonderful situation for me in many ways. But I got to the point, I just had to do something to support myself and my family.

While he didn’t expect the Cosby show to have him established for the remainder of his life, he appreciated the extra cushion it provided.

I didn’t think of it either way. I was single at the time, no family, and The Cosby Show paid me some fairly decent money for a single guy who never even expected to be on TV and was just happy to be doing theater. I felt like I had plenty of money, but set for life, no. But I was fine.

He added,

I always expected that one way or another I would work and make a living. Whether it was teaching, directing, acting, little job here and little job there, then I’d patch it together. I didn’t forsee working at a place like Trader Joe’s, as great as that place is. I didn’t foresee going out of the business for work, but I thought that within the business, I would patch together a modest living, at least enough to get by.

He also says he is willing to step outside of the business in order to make a living for himself and his family if he needs to again. Owens also recently accepted a role on Tyler Perry hit OWN show The Have and the Have Nots.

This week it was also reported that he landed another acting gig, NCIS: New Orleans. According to reports, he will appear in the sixth episode of season 5, sometime in late October.

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