Amid the outpouring of women coming forward with Bill Cosby rape allegations, it seems as though the 77-year-olds iconic TV wife is standing by his side.
In an interview with Showbiz 411, Rashad told the media outlet that she never saw any indication of the behavior that many women are placing on the legendary actor/comedian.
“Forget these women,” Rashad said. “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.”
Rashad, who’s known to many as Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show, says she believes the controversy surrounding Cosby’s name is part of a larger plot to end his career. So far, more than 20 women have opened up with claims of the Hollywood icon harassing, drugging and sexually assaulting them, but no charges have ever been filed against Cosby.
“Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV,” said Rashad. “And it’s worked. All his contracts have been canceled.”
The Tony award-winner also came to Camille Cosby’s defense and said there was no way she would stand by her husband of 50 years if such behavior was taking place.
“This is a tough woman, a smart woman,” Showbiz 411’s Roger Friedman writes that Rashad told him. “She’s no pushover.”
Earlier this week, Cosby’s television daughter, Keshia Knight Pulliam, went on a talk show circuit following her firing from Celebrity Apprentice for not calling Cosby and asking for money as part of the reality show’s challenge. In interviews with Today and The Wendy Williams Show, Pulliam also came to Cosby’s defense and said that the sexual assault allegations are not a reflection of the man she knows.
“All I can speak to is the man I know and I love the fact that he has been such an example [and] you can’t take away from the great he has done, the millions and millions of dollars he has given back to colleges and education, and just what he did with The Cosby Show and how groundbreaking that was,” Pulliam told Today.