in the late 90s early 00s Bill Cosby started doing shows and speeches free to the local community (mainly blacks) he was doing this around where he lived. Springfield, MA Holyoke, MA and Connecticut. He would get all the black youth together for these shows then start ripping into them about being lazy worthless niggers that being gang bangers did nothing for them or their communities and they had to do better. Local media reported about it a few times, Cosby also started being less public as a result until they decided to start with the rape accusations against him. There's comics that worked with Cosby that have also spoken up about how the accusations were bullshit. Cosby wasnt a leader per say but he was someone that was propped up to be a Black role model and got really outspoken about niggers being niggers.