Phylicia Rashad, who played family matriarch Claire Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," defended Bill Cosby this week in the wake of several rape allegations made against him in recent months.
"Forget these women," Rashad
told Roger Friedman of Showbiz411. "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."
Friedman said Rashad had not expected to speak about Cosby, but made a few impromptu comments after running into the reporter at a star-studded lunch for the movie "Selma" at the Metropolitan Club in New York. Harry Belafonte, Common, John Legend, and Ruben Santiago Hudson were just some of the high-profile names at the event.
The Tony award-winning actress was initially reluctant to comment on the rape accusations against her former co-star, saying "I don’t want to become part of the public debate."
Nonetheless, she conjectured that, "Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV. And it’s worked. All his contracts have been canceled."
When the names of accusers Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson came up in the conversation, Rashad said "Oh, please," and went on to talk about Cosby's real-life wife, Camille.
"This is a tough woman, a smart woman. She’s no pushover," she said, telling the reporter she doubts Camille could have looked away from her husband's alleged serial assaults if they did in fact exist.
She invited the reporter to think about Cosby's legacy, and those who might be interested in seeing it succeed or fail.
"This show represented America to the outside world. This was the American family. And now you're seeing it being destroyed. Why?"
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