Bill Cosby Defends TV Wife Phylicia Rashad After She Celebrated His Release

Bill Cosby’s on-screen wife has been the talk of the town since she made a tweet supporting Bill Cosby after the overturning of his sexual assault conviction.

Phylicia Rashad, who starred in The Cosby Show, tweeted on Wednesday that “a terrible wrong has been righted”.

The tweet was deleted and a post was then made after she deleted it that she “fully supported sexual abuse survivors coming forward.”

Howard University, where Rashad happens to be a Dean said her first tweet lacked sensitivity. The university, located in Washington DC, issued a statement that read: “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. Personal positions of university leadership do not reflect Howard University’s policies.”

In 2018, Bill Cosby was found guilty of drugging and molesting ex-basketball player Andrea Constand.

However, Cosby’s conviction was overturned last week by Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court after the 83-year-old has served more than two years in jail.

The judges said there had been a process violation by the prosecution, but admitted their ruling was unusual.

In response, Rashad tweeted: “Finally. A terrible wrong is being righted – a miscarriage of justice is corrected.”

She faced criticism on social media, with some saying she shouldn’t stay in her post at Howard University, which appointed her dean of its recently re-established College of Fine Arts last year.

On Friday, CNN reported that she had sent a letter to students and parents, offering a “most sincere apology”.

In it, Rashad reportedly said she plans “to engage in active listening and participate in training to not only reinforce university protocol and conduct but also to learn how I can become a stronger ally to sexual assault survivors and everyone who has suffered at the hands of an abuser”.

But Bill Cosby backed his former co-star’s original comments and criticized the university’s stance in his statement.

“Howard University you must support one’s Freedom of Speech (Ms. Rashad), which is taught or supposed to be taught every day at that renowned law school, which resides on your campus,” he said.

Bill Cosby compared the media to those who stormed the US Capitol in January, and claimed that his conviction was not overturned on a “technicality.”

“Those same media insurrectionists are trying to demolish the constitution of the United State of America on this Independence Day,” Bill Cosby wrote. “No technicality – it’s a violation of one’s rights and we the people stand in support of Ms. Phylicia Rashad.”