Bill Cosby defended his former co-star Phylicia Rashad after her remarks about his release from prison was criticized by Howard University, the HuffPost reports.
The disgraced comedian lashed out at the HBCU's rebuke of Rashad’s response to his sentence being overturned.
“Howard University you must support ones Freedom of Speech (Ms. Rashad), which is taught or suppose to be taught every day at that renowned law school, which resides on your campus,” Cosby said in a statement made public to the media.
In May, Rashad was named dean of Howard University’s College of Fine Arts, as Blavity previously reported. When news broke about Cosby’s release, she caused a firestorm after taking to Twitter to express her feelings about Cosby leaving prison.
“Finally,” Rashad said in a now-deleted tweet. “A terrible wrong is being righted—a miscarriage of justice is corrected.”
Immediately, Howard University issued a statement that rebuked Rashad’s tweet.
“Survivors of sexual assault will always be our priority. While Dean Rashad has acknowledged in her follow-up tweet that victims must be heard and believed, her initial tweet lacked sensitivity towards survivors of sexual assault,” the statement read. “Personal positions of University leadership do not reflect Howard University’s policies."
After the backlash. Rashad again responded on Twitter by acknowledging the insensitivity of her remarks and how she stands with survivors of sexual assault.
"I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing,” her tweet read.
I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing.
— Phylicia Rashad (@PhyliciaRashad) June 30, 2021
In an attempt to go completely off the rails, Cosby also blamed the insurrection that took place at the Capitol in January on the mainstream media, not the MAGA cult that Trump created.
“This (sic) mainstream media are the Insurrectionists, who stormed the Capitol. Those same Media Insurrectionists are trying to demolish the Constitution of these United State of America on this Independence Day,” he said. “No technicality — it’s a violation of ones rights & we the people stand in support of Ms. Phylicia Rashad.”
As Blavity previously reported, the 83-year-old actor was freed from prison on a legal technicality after serving over two years of an up to-10-year sentence for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand back in 2004.
In an effort to rehab his damaged public image, Cosby plans to make a comeback on the comedy stage and to film a documentary about his life and legacy.