Friend, former co-star and Tony Award winner
Phylicia Rashad defends Bill Cosby in a recent interview. Phylicia Rashad who was married to Bill Cosby on “The Cosby Show” has spoken out for the first time about the scandal involving legendary comedian and philanthropist Bill Cosby. Rashad told Showbiz 411’s Roger Friedman,
“What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And 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.” “This show represented America to the outside world. This was the American family. And now you’re seeing it being destroyed. Why?”
Rashad dismisses claims from both Beverly Johnson and Janice dikkinson. “Oh, please,” she said when their names came up. She also is quick to defend Camille Cosby. “This is a tough woman, a smart woman,” she told me. “She’s no pushover.” There is no question, Rashad said, that Camille Cosby has not been complicit or looked the other way as her husband terrorized women for the last 50 years.
She said, “Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV,” alluding to people other than the women. “And it’s worked. All his contracts have been cancelled.”
She said Cosby himself is probably too proud to raise a defense. I countered that his silence reminded me of how Jerry Lewis reacted when, after 50 years. the Muscular Dystrophy Association treated him like dirt. He refused to fight back. To quote a popular song from the 70s: “If you don’t know me by now, you will never never know me.”
And what about a defense from the man himself? “If he spoke now, what do you think the media would do with it?” Rashad asked. And let’s face it, she’s right