Phylicia Rashad is quickly defending herself from the public backlashers on her recents comments about Cosby. She appeared in a television interview on "World News Tonight with David Muir" on Wednesday, January 7, to which she reacted on her most recent controversial comments about the comedian Bill Cosby and his female accusers of sexual harrassment after receiving such public outrage.
On Tuesday, 66-year-old Rashad was quoted on Roger Friedman's "Showbiz 411" saying, "Forget these women. What you're seeing is the destruction of a legacy. 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 had played Bill Cosby's on-screen wife as Clair Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom "The Cosby Show", had claimed to "ABC News" correspondent Linsey Davis that it was all really a "misquote". She then explained to the correspondent, "That is not what I said. What I said is 'This is not about the women - this is about something else. This is about the obliteration of legacy.'"
"I am a woman," Rashad said to validate her side. She continued, "I am a woman. I would never say such a thing."
Although she quickly stepped up in the limelight to clear her name, unfortunately, her prior interview had coincidentally bumped with three additional accusers of the veteran comedian who recently came forward to the media on Wednesday in a press conference. The accusers as well as their attorney Gloria Allred had criticized Rashad for her earlier comments. Their lawyer, Allred, had said in a statement, "Phylicia, I vow to you that I will not forget these women, because women matter. They deserve respect and dignity. Phylicia, you should be supporting these women rather than joining Cosby's paid 'attack dogs' who are trying to undermine them in any way they can."
