Phylicia Rashad’s Tweet Celebrating The Release Of Bill Cosby Is Not Going Over Well

In a shocking legal twist, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction. He will go free after serving less than three years of his ten-year prison sentence. Few people expected this to happen, ever, let alone after a judge denied parole to the disgraced TV star and comedian after he refused to participate in prison treatment programs. As it turns out, though, the court’s opinion (which followed a criminal court judge labeling him a “sexually violent predator”) is a procedural matter.

The legal process got all botched up due to a previous prosecutor (Bruce Castor, who gave a My Cousin Vinny-esque speech during Trump’s second impeachment trial) agreeing not to prosecute Cosby. A subsequent prosecutor ran with the case after several accusers came forward, years after Cosby’s $3.3 million settlement to Andrea Constand and his 2005 admission that he’d drugged and raped her and other women. And when the PA Supreme Court ruled that Cosby should go free, this was music to the ears of his former Cosby Show co-star, Phylicia Rashad.

“FINALLY!!!!” A terrible wrong is being righted,” The woman who played Claire Huxtable tweeted. “[A] miscarriage of justice is corrected!”

— Phylicia Rashad (@PhyliciaRashad) June 30, 2021

As one might expect, uh, this wasn’t the wisest thing in the world to tweet. Rashad’s got her Twitter replies (from the general public) turned off, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from quote-tweeting her while wondering how Rashad’s employer, Howard University (where she’ll be dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts), will view her vigorous celebration of her former TV husband.

— Alan Zilberman (@alanzilberman) June 30, 2021

I feel absolutely awful for women at @HowardU. I wouldn’t feel safe coming forward with people like this in leadership roles. https://t.co/icr6a1Rffc

— Trill (@NotHustleAndFro) June 30, 2021

Rashad was named the new dean of Howard University’s College of Fine Arts in May. Deans are entrusted with the safety of their students, this tweet from her is not just disappointing but dangerous. https://t.co/pgBTbCu5Ln

— Andrea Diaz (@Drea__Diaz) June 30, 2021

CNN’s Jake Tapper summed things up pretty well: “The actress who played Mrs. Huxtable weighs in.”

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 30, 2021

Yep, Rashad does appear to overlook what actually happened here, in that no justice was corrected, and Cosby certainly wasn’t acquitted. He’s only going free because of prosecutorial error, and people have noticed.

— ✨Grace✨ (@GVictoriaaBC) June 30, 2021

A friendly reminder that Mr. Cosby has not been acquitted, nor has any new evidence been brought forth that challenges his guilt as it pertains to the crimes he was convicted of.

He was released on a technicality. https://t.co/7zJ8emlYuJ