Phylicia Rashad celebrates Bill Cosby's sentence being overturned, sends follow-up tweet
PHILADELPHIA -- Phylicia Rashad has long been one of Bill Cosby's staunchest supporters and on Wednesday she shared her reaction to his sentence being overturned.
"FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!" Rashad tweeted, along with a photo of Cosby.
Cosby was released from a Pennsylvania prison after the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania vacated his 2018 conviction on sexual assault charges and sentence.
He was sentenced to 10 years in a state prison after being found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home 14 years ago.
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Following her first tweet, which was met with criticism by some online, Rashad, the incoming dean at Howard University's College of Fine Arts, later shared another statement.
"I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward," Rashad wrote in a subsequent tweet.
"My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth," she wrote."Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing."
Howard University issued its own statement in support of the accusers:
"Survivors of sexual assault will always be our priority. While Dean Rashad has acknowledged in her follow-up tweet that victims must be heard and believed, her initial tweet lacked sensitivity towards survivors of sexual assault. Personal positions of University leadership do not reflect Howard University's policies. We will continue to advocate for survivors fully and support their rights to be heard. Howard will stand with survivors and challenge systems that would deny them justice. We have full confidence that our faculty and school leadership will live up to this sacred commitment."
Cosby and Rashad are long-time friends. Rashad has twice played his wife on television: from 1984--92 on the NBC sitcom "The Cosby Show" and on the CBS sitcom "Cosby" from 1996-2000.
Dozens of women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, including harassment, drugging and rape, dating back decades. Cosby has consistently disputed the allegations and maintained the relationships were consensual.
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Rashad told ABC in 2015 she was misquoted in an online interview in which she defended Cosby and said she was not being dismissive of the alleged victims.
"I am a woman," she said. "I would never do that."
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CNN Wire contributed to this report.
