A floodgate of opportunities opened for Geoffrey Owens after he was job-shamed for bagging groceries at a supermarket.
Owens became a viral sensation last month after a Twitter user a photo of him working at a New Jersey Trader Joe’s and news outlets covered the story of the tweet that described the former “Cosby Show” actor as being down on his luck. However, the 57-year-old received countless expressions of support from several celebrities and fans who jumped to his defense, including Tyler Perry.
Actor Geoffrey Owens (left) attends the press launch for FringeNYC 2012 at the New School for Drama on August 2012 in New York. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/WireImage) Tyler Perry (right) attends a ceremony to honor Cicely Tyson at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on April 27, 2018, in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Gabriel Olsen/FilmMagic)
The “OWN” film producer offered Owens a job opportunity on social media and tweeted, “#GeoffreyOwens I’m about to start shootings OWN’s number one drama next week! Come join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs.”
The “Cosby” actor was adamant that he does not expect to be offered any acting role, but thought it was “cool” that Perry reached out to him.
“I mean, that kind of sounded like he was saying, ‘Come work with me.’ I’m so, like, skeptical. Like, really? Are you actually saying come work with me? Because we’ve never worked together before,” Owens told “Entertainment Tonight” in an interview. “So, that’s a very, very generous thing for him to say. And we’ll see what happens with that. But that’s encouraging.”
Owens said it was embarrassing to see unflattering images of himself on the internet and he was bothered by the “fat” and “unhappy” comments.
“Oh my gosh, it’s like, do they have to say things like, ‘with his stained shirt bagging potatoes’?” the actor asked. ” I kind of feel sorry for them, and I hope they’ve learned a lesson. I hope bad karma turns into good karma, and we’ll leave it at that.”
Nevertheless, Owens still sported his Trader Joe’s name pin proudly and said he was never ashamed of his work.
“I deliberately brought it today, and I’m wearing it all day just to make a point that, you know, work is not something to be ashamed of no matter what it is,” he said.
Owen is known for playing the role of Elvin Tibideaux on the popular 1980s sitcom created by Bill Cosby.
