Phylicia Rashad, who played Bill Cosby’s on-screen wife in “The Cosby Show,” said on Wednesday that reporters had misquoted her as saying “forget these women,” in reference to the women accusing the comedian of rape.
“That is a misquote, and that is not what I said,” she told ABC’s “World News Tonight” on Wednesday night.
“What I said was: This is not about the women,” Rashad continued. “This is about something else. This is about the obliteration of legacy.”
Entertainment site Showbizz411 originally quoted Rashad as saying “forget these women” in an interview published Tuesday. She was then quoted theorizing about the “orchestrated” effort to “destroy” Cosby’s legacy, in similar language to her remarks on ABC.
ABC asked about her reaction to the initial Cosby accusations from women saying that the comic drugged and raped several young women.
“I had never heard that before,” she responded. “I can’t even speak to those things and don’t want to.”
“What has happened is declaration in the media of guilt, without proof,” she said earlier in the interview.
Watch the interview, courtesy of ABC:
I hear the high-pitched whine of an engine in reverse at full throttle. The poor gal really doesn’t deserve to be put on the spot like this. It is, after all, one of the questions for the ages: Should we judge the art by the artist?
Should we retroactively ban “The Cosby Show” just because Bill was (almost certainly) a criminal sex offender?
Should we delete the highly regarded video lectures of an MIT professor for similar reasons?
Except is IS about the women; they say they were drugged and raped by Cosby. Quite a few women are saying that.
So you can’t “forget them”.
Yes, Cosby has a legacy. But if what these women allege are true, that doesn’t mean we should sweep what he did under the rug. If he did what he’s being accused of, that means he violated people, he hurt them, he took something from them. Sometimes bad acts can’t (nor should) be erased simply because you’ve also done good. Not to mention that Cosby definitely benefitted from the wonderful things he did; he was placed on pedestals, he’s been financially compensated, he’s been awarded with a doctorate, etc.
That’s up to the individual. In my case, for example, I refuse to watch any film by Roman Polanski until he serves time.
Huh!?!?!
Sounds like she’s worried about her residuals…
My thoughts exactly. She’s got a dog in this fight. A big one.