Debate: How Does Phylicia Rashad Feel About People Who Can No Longer Watch The Cosby Show Due to Bill Cosby's Sexual Assault Conviction?

[playahaitian]

How Does Phylicia Rashad Feel About People Who Can No Longer Watch The Cosby Show Due to Bill Cosby's Sexual Assault Conviction?

It’s been about five years since Phylicia Rashad’s comments about the women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault and misconduct prompted a flurry of discussion, debate and disappointment—and now, she’s speaking out once again.

thegrapevine.theroot.com

How Does Phylicia Rashad Feel About People Who Can No Longer Watch The Cosby Show Due to Bill Cosby's Sexual Assault Conviction?

Tonja Renée Stidhum
Today 10:15AM
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Phylicia Rashad visits SiriusXM Studios on January 13, 2020, in New York City.Photo: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images (Getty Images)
It’s been about five years since Phylicia Rashad’s comments about the women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault and misconduct prompted a flurry of discussion, debate and disappointment—and now, she’s speaking out once again.



In 2015, the quote “forget these women” made the rounds in the news cycle, in reference to Rashad’s interview with Showbiz 411—a quote Rashad has since clarified, noting that she did not use that specific phrase and instead said, “This is not about the women. This is about something else. This is about the obliteration of a legacy.” Showbiz 411’s Roger Friedman wrote a clarifying article, claiming he did not misquote Rashad but did state she did not say the words in a dismissing way.
In a recent interview with Bustle promoting her latest film Black Box, the topic remained primarily focused on the show’s legacy, rather than Rashad’s personal relationship with Cosby. In the interview, contributor Rebecca Carroll specifically asked Rashad what she feels about people who feel they cannot watch The Cosby Show again, given what is now considered to be Cosby’s tarnished legacy.
“I don’t know why anybody would feel that way,” Rashad said. “I just don’t accept what somebody says because they say it, and they say it in a loud voice. The internet has given a lot of anonymous people a very loud voice. And this, too, has happened before.”
In an unexpected comparison, Rashad brought up Zora Neale Hurston’s legacy in order to drive her point home about the power of legacy and what can happen to it when tainted.


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Carroll writes:

It’s almost too heartbreaking to accept Rashad’s continued dismissal of Cosby’s accusers—she is, after all, a modern Black queen. But she insists that there is a lesson to be learned here. “Zora Neale Hurston died a pauper,” Rashad says, sharpening her tone. “And do you know why?” I knew that Hurston, the celebrated writer best known for her 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, had died poor, and gathered through various historical accounts that it was because she’d had difficulties getting her work published (what Black writer throughout history hasn’t?). But I had to admit to Rashad that I didn’t know any further specifics.

“Oh, you should do a little research on that,” Rashad says, raising her eyebrows at me. “You should go back and look at some charges that were brought up against her that didn’t make any sense. And look at what happened when the judge had thrown out the case, but it had gone through [Black magazines], through this step and the other, and her books were taken off the shelf.”

You have to Google the specific words “falsely accused” along with “Zora Neale Hurston” in order to turn up the story. According to a 2002 piece in The New York Times, in 1948, “a vindictive neighbor accused Hurston of sexual relations with her 10-year-old son. The charges were patently false—Hurston had been in Honduras at the time, and the boy was mentally unstable—but she was indicted, and the story leaked to a Black newspaper, which sensationalized it...The case was finally thrown out, and, characteristically, Hurston rebounded to work on a final published novel, Seraph on the Suwanee, and a unfinished nonfiction work called Herod the Great that no publisher would touch.”

While these circumstances aren’t quite the same, it does stand to note that the Black community has grappled with the reckoning of the once-revered show’s legacy. The fact is, Cosby isn’t Dr. Huxtable and he shouldn’t be placed on a pedestal because he portrayed a beloved fictional character. On the nostalgic romanticizing of The Cosby Show, Kirsten West Savali wrote at The Root at the time:

There has been a romanticization of both Cosby and Cosby that reeks of arrogance and delusion. Despite what Rashad and others may believe, Cosby isn’t the savior of black America, and the Illuminati isn’t out to get him. The Cosby Show was not then, and certainly isn’t now, the only media depiction of a healthy black family. And the dismantling of Cosby’s benign, fatherly facade is a blow to nothing but his own image and 1980s nostalgia.

Though Rashad had spoken on this controversial topic years ago, it is clearly something that may be an ongoing conversation; perhaps even something that we discuss in another way years from now, Rashad intimated.
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“And so I know what I know, and I just stay with what I know,” Rashad noted. “And it will happen in time, that this will come around another way, as it often does. And then people say, ‘Oh.’”

 

[playahaitian]

You have to Google the specific words “falsely accused” along with “Zora Neale Hurston” in order to turn up the story. According to a 2002 piece in The New York Times, in 1948, “a vindictive neighbor accused Hurston of sexual relations with her 10-year-old son. The charges were patently false—Hurston had been in Honduras at the time, and the boy was mentally unstable—but she was indicted, and the story leaked to a Black newspaper, which sensationalized it...The case was finally thrown out, and, characteristically, Hurston rebounded to work on a final published novel, Seraph on the Suwanee, and a unfinished nonfiction work called Herod the Great that no publisher would touch.”​

I posted this primarily because of this ONE part...

cannot believe this has been lost in history.

@ViCiouS @4 Dimensional @raze @largebillsonlyplease

Forgotten History: How Zora Neale Hurston was falsely accused to be a sexual predator & her career was destroyed

You have to Google the specific words “falsely accused” along with “Zora Neale Hurston” in order to turn up the story. According to a 2002 piece in The New York Times, in 1948, “a vindictive neighbor accused Hurston of sexual relations with her 10-year-old son. The charges were patently...

www.bgol.us

 

[ghoststrike]

Y'all remember that episode where Bill was slurping all over her ears and neck like an ice cream Sunday?

Back then as a kid, I was thinking, "Woah, this doesn't look family friendly."

 

[durham]

Why do they keep asking her? She didn't do it, she doesn't own the right to the show.

Last I checked, didn't a white dude get accused of similar shit, and just won an Oscar?

Fake hypocritical fucking outrage.

 

[knightmelodic]

Tempest in a teapot. Just more of the continuing crusade to taint the man's legacy because he dared to be unapologetically Black. Just add his name to the long list.

Did he do it? We'll never know but we do know if he was white he would have walked no matter how many women simultaneously remember something from 40 years ago.

But at the end of the day, it's up to each individual if they want to watch the show or not. Nobody's forcing anyone. To keep banging on the show really just shows the agenda of these hypocrites.

 

[Mo-Better]

I seriously doubt Phylicia Rashad or any other cast member cares about the Cosby Show or that other show the Phylicia and Bill did a few years later. Nor will they have anything negative to say about Cosby or his problems.

Cosby's actions were his alone and should have zero bearing of any of the cast member's careers. The one exception would be syndication money. Besides all that the show made them all millionaires and gave them all celebrity status.

 

[Tito_Jackson]

I seriously doubt Phylicia Rashad or any other cast member cares about the Cosby Show or that other show the Phylicia and Bill did a few years later. Nor will they have anything negative to say about Cosby or his problems.

Cosby's actions were his alone and should have zero bearing of any of the cast member's careers. The one exception would be syndication money. Besides all that the show made them all millionaires and gave them all celebrity status.

I 100% disagree. Every person who participated on the show recognizes the cultural significance of the show. For those who can remember, The Cosby Show was the first show to show a black family and the black experience like that. 1000's if not millions of kids attended HBCUs because of the show and the spin off. They normalized black excellence in a way that hadn't been done up until that time.

Every person who was on the show cares. They might not say so publicly, but they care.

 

[4 Dimensional]

You have to Google the specific words “falsely accused” along with “Zora Neale Hurston” in order to turn up the story. According to a 2002 piece in The New York Times, in 1948, “a vindictive neighbor accused Hurston of sexual relations with her 10-year-old son. The charges were patently false—Hurston had been in Honduras at the time, and the boy was mentally unstable—but she was indicted, and the story leaked to a Black newspaper, which sensationalized it...The case was finally thrown out, and, characteristically, Hurston rebounded to work on a final published novel, Seraph on the Suwanee, and a unfinished nonfiction work called Herod the Great that no publisher would touch.”​

I posted this primarily because of this ONE part...

cannot believe this has been lost in history.

@ViCiouS @4 Dimensional @raze @largebillsonlyplease

Wow.

 

[Mad Genius]

Phylicia Rashad is in "legacy protection mode". She has a vested interest in protecting Cosby's back. So no surprise here. The Cosby Show was great. Bill Cosby was an elitist asshole who raped and sexually assaulted women for almost 50 years. Both are true. Money and power can protect you for a long time but even those factors have limits. Just ask Harvey Weinstein.

 

[GAMETHEORY]

There was no evidence to convict him the first time he was charged unless Cosby confessed. They said they wouldn't prosecute Cosby therefore he had to testify in a civil trial against his guilt. Cosby then had to make incriminating testimony against himself, Which the next prosecutor used against him. This was wrong.

A bold and clear violation of the 5th amendment.

 

[playahaitian]

Oh, Phylicia Rashad Wants Us to Forget She Celebrated Bill Cosby’s Release
By Devon Ivie@devonsaysrelax

Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Cosby Show star Phylicia Rashad, believing that we all have the memory span of a goldfish, is attempting to walk back comments she made about Bill Cosby’s overturned sexual-assault verdict. In a tweet posted on June 30, the actress wrote that “a terrible wrong is being righted; a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” about Cosby’s release from prison, adding, in all caps, “FINALLY!!!!” Rashad, who recently started a tenure as a dean at Howard University, issued a follow-up tweet hours later, where she acknowledged the dozens of women who accused Cosby 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,” she wrote. “Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing.” Howard University snowballed with its own statement soon thereafter, saying that while Rashad’s tweet “lacked sensitivity” toward Cosby’s survivors, “personal positions of university leadership do not reflect Howard’s policies.”



Rashad and Cosby have shared a friendship since the 1980s; they’ve played husband and wife on two television shows, The Cosby Show and Cosby. In 2015, Rashad said in an interview with Showbiz 411 that she was skeptical of the vast number of sexual-assault allegations being lodged against Cosby. “Forget these women,” she explained. “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.” However, Rashad later claimed the outlet misquoted her words and insisted that “this is about something else. This is about the obliteration of legacy.”

Updated on July 3: On Friday, July 2, Phylicia Rashad sent an apology letter to Howard University students and parents after sharing (and later deleting) a tweet celebrating Bill Cosby’s release from prison for sexual assault. According to CNN, the letter reads: “My remarks were in no way directed towards survivors of sexual assault. I vehemently oppose sexual violence, find no excuse for such behavior, and I know that Howard University has a zero-tolerance policy toward interpersonal violence,” and that she plans “to engage in active listening and participate in trainings 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.”

 

[king reckless]

That Cosby bullshit train stays on time. Every presidential candidate gets threatened with some off color sexual harassment that vanishes when he withdraw from office. Where's the Trump ATTACK? What happened to that? If you think shit happens at random where the accusation of a black celebrity receives "justice" and a white officer receives mixed support where justice is unclear, you must still believe in Santa. Trust, drop your name and I'll make you a runner for office. Don't deny the 2000 accusers coming for your neck. BTW, no one discusses why women are getting date raped by an admittedly married man.

 

[Lexx Diamond]

Fuckem! Tell them to continue watching 7th Heaven like they been doing. That show didn't come off the air nor did his pasty ass get prosecuted much less indicted. Those were children. Not get high whores from 20 to 40 years ago.


Stephen Collins, pastor-dad in ‘7th Heaven,’ admits to sexually abusing underage girl, exposing himself to 2 others (audio)

By Meg Wagner, Thomas Tracy and Nancy Dillon

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |

Oct 07, 2014 at 5:28 PM

The actor who played a pastor on the wholesome TV hit "7th Heaven" is now an accused pedophile who allegedly preyed on three young girls.

The NYPD's Special Victims Unit is investigating allegations that Stephen Collins molested one girl in 1972 and exposed himself to the other two, a police source said.

Collins played the Rev. Eric Camden, a father of seven, on the popular family drama from 1996 to 2007. His alleged sick acts became public after a victim saw him on television and told her husband, TMZ.com reported.

That alleged victim — a relative of Collins' first wife, Marjorie Weinman — and her concerned husband reached out to Collins' second wife, Faye Grant, with the disturbing accusation. Collins, 67, allegedly confessed during a therapy session in January 2012.

"There was one moment of touching where her hand....I put her hand on my penis," Collins is heard saying in an apparent recording of the therapy-session confession that TMZ obtained.

In the recording, Grant asks Collins if he had an erection when he exposed himself to the girl.

"No, I mean, no. Partial ...maybe, I think," he replies.



His victim, who was then 10, told the NYPD he often wandered into her room wrapped in a towel and exposed himself, TMZ reported.

Collins also allegedly admitted to exposing himself to two more girls under 14, though it was not immediately clear when or where those incidents took place.

"In the presence of his therapist, Stephen admitted that he has engaged in a long-term pattern of sexually abusing minor children, including sexually molesting three young girls over a decade ago," Grant said in a divorce declaration filed last year and obtained by the Daily News.

Stephen Collins (right) played Jessica Biel’s father on ‘7th Heaven’ alongside Catherine Hicks. The CW show about family values ran for 11 seasons. (THE WB/PAUL MCCALLUM/TLP)

Grant, 57, said she urged Collins to seek "proper treatment for pedophilia," but he refused. She said she reported his alleged acts to New York and Los Angeles cops.

An LAPD source said investigators heard allegations about Collins in 2012, but a formal police report was never filed. The source said the case was closed when the investigation found no victims living in L.A.

Collins hasn't been charged with a crime. Requests for comment to him, his manager and his divorce lawyer went unanswered Tuesday.



Media and police descended on his San Fernando Valley home around 9 p.m. after receiving reports of a gunshot inside — but cops quickly declared it a false alarm.

Grant said in her filing that the actor admitted the acts shortly after she received two letters and a phone call from the husband of the New York victim in December 2012. The husband of the alleged victim "berated me for my cowardice in not turning Stephen in to the police," she said, adding that the man threatened a civil lawsuit. Grant said in a statement Tuesday that she did not leak the tape.

"I woke up today to learn that an extremely private recording I handed over to the authorities in 2012 per their request ...was recently disseminated to the press," she stated. "I had no involvement whatsoever with the release of the tape to the media."



Meanwhile, UP TV pulled "7th Heaven" reruns.

Collins was also fired Tuesday from the cast of the movie "Ted 2," starring Mark Wahlberg and Amanda Seyfried.

Stephen Collins, pastor-dad in ‘7th Heaven,’ admits to sexually abusing underage girl, exposing himself to 2 others (audio)

The actor who played a pastor on the wholesome TV hit “7th Heaven” is now an accused pedophile who allegedly preyed on three young girls. The NYPD’s Special Victims Unit is invest…

www.nydailynews.com