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Phylicia Rashad has broken her silence about Bill Cosby and the massive sex scandal surrounding him, defending her former onscreen husband and blasting his accusers. “Forget these women. What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy,” says Rashad.
She tells Showbiz 411, “I think it’s orchestrated. I don’t know why or who’s doing it, but it’s the legacy. And it’s a legacy that is so important to the culture.” Referring to “The Cosby Show,” Rashad says, “This show represented America to the outside world. This was the American family. And now you’re seeing it being destroyed. Why?”
“Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV,” says the actress. “And it’s worked. All his contracts have been canceled.” Showbiz 411 reports Rashad is dismissive of accusers like Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson, exclaiming, “Oh, please,” when their names come up.
Rashad further says of Cosby, “I love him,” and reportedly insists she has never witnessed any of the behavior of which the comedy legend has been accused. As Gossip Cop has reported, more than 20 women have claimed Cosby sexual assaulted them, with many of the accusers alleging they were drugged, and some, like Dickinson, claiming he raped them.
Aside from thanking supporters like Whoopi Goldberg, and issuing denials through his attorney, Cosby has remained largely silent about the claims against him. Earlier his week, another “Cosby Show” co-star, Keshia Knight Pulliam, addressed the allegations in the wake of Sunday’s “Celebrity Apprentice” premiere, in which the taped episode showed the former child star refusing to call Cosby for a donation to her fundraiser challenge, revealing they hadn’t spoken in several years.
“What I can say is this: I wasn’t there. No one was there except for the two people who know exactly what happened. All I can speak to is the man that I know and I love,” said Pulliam. She went on, “The fact that he’s been such an example, you can’t take away from the great that he has done.”
As for Cosby’s other sitcom co-stars, as Gossip Cop reported in November, Raven-Symone slammed a hoax that falsely claimed she had been abused by the comedian. “I was NOT taking advantage of by Mr. Cosby when I was on the Cosby Show! I was practically a baby on that show and this is truly a disgusting rumor that I want no part of,” she said. “Everyone on that show treated me with nothing but kindness. Now keep me out of this.”
And later that month, a rep for Lisa Bonet told Gossip Cop that a purported tweet alluding to the situation was not from the actress, but a fake account. What do you think of newest comments from Rashad?
