SUMMARY: Bill Cosby and Felicia Rashad are co-starring in a public fall out. As the Cosby Show's Claire and Heathcliff Huxtable, they were an inspiration for Black Americans for 8 seasons. Both are currently receiving backlash from students and alumns at one of American's top HBCU's.
Actress Felicia Rashad is getting backlash from Howard University students due to her support of alleged rapist Bill Cosby. Rashad stood by her television husband upon his release from prison on Wednesday when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction, tweeting that a "miscarriage of justice was corrected." (The post has since been deleted but we have the receipt below. ) Rashad, 73 was expected to start in her position as the dean of the Chadwick E. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard, University her alma mater, on July 1 but students condemned her for being insensitive to sexual assault victims, saying as a leader she violated the trust of student rape victims who could look to her for support.
Howard students and alums called for the university to fire Rashad, using the hashtag #ByePhylicia. “I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward,” Rashad wrote after the initial comment supporting her co-star and fried was removed. “My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing.”
This is not the first time Rashaad seemed dismissive about the hurt of Cosby's victims and came to his defense. In 2015 when models Janice Dickerson and Beverly Johnson asserted Cosby raped them, she tweeted, "Forget these women."
The university responded with a statement echoing that her recent response was not appropriate. The statement indicated "her initial tweet lacked sensitivity towards survivors of sexual assault." Officials vowed to "continue to advocate for survivors fully and support their right to be heard." Over 30 women came forth with rape or sexual misconduct allegations about the fallen entertainer. He served two and a half years of a possible life long sentence.
Before being embroiled in sex scandals, Cosby, now 88, was known to be an avid supporter and donor to HBCUs including Howard.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court blocked future prosecution of Cosby on June 30 based on a verbal deal the prosecutor made but did not keep on the merits of judicial equity. The state supreme court said Cosby can not be retried on the same charges. Attorney Gloria Allred who represented the victims say the fight is not over in California where she is leading a civil case against him.