Today’s Side Eye once again goes to Phylicia Rashad, whose ignorance was on full display this week when she defended Bill Cosby by saying “forget those women” and claiming that there’s some organized effort to “dismantle” Bill’s legacy. Most of us were shocked that she could be so willfully ignorant, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. After all, Phylicia claims she was misquoted.
Unfortunately, her explanations don’t make her look any better. Here’s what she told ABC News:
“I am a woman. I would never say such a thing. I would never think such a thing,” she said. “My message is, what happens to a nation in which people knowingly and willfully disavow the tenets that describe the nation? … This is not about the women. This is about something else. This is about the obliteration of a legacy.”
Rashad would not speak about the women who have accused Cosby of rape, nor would she say discuss the things they said happened to them. But she did open up about the “kind” and “generous” man with whom she remains friendly.
“Speaking to the character of the man that I know, this has not been easy. This has not been easy at all but he’s not a coward,” she said. “I don’t know what he will do in that way but I know that he won’t be hiding. … He likes being around people too much and he respects people.”
I mean, look – like I said yesterday, I’m sympathetic to the fact that it must be incredibly difficult to believe that someone you have known for years would be capable of something so awful. But your inability to come to terms with it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, lady. And you DID say “forget those women”. Maybe it was without thinking – clearly it was without thinking – but obviously you’re more concerned with preserving your idea of Bill Cosby than you are about right and wrong.
That being said, I do agree with her about the innocent until proven guilty thing. I 150% think Bill Cosby is a serial rapist and sexual abuser of women, but I also couldn’t put him in jail for it without concrete evidence in a court of law. The problem here is that no one is going to try him, so basically he just “gets away with it”.
Video below, if you’re interested: