When Showbiz 411 reported that Phylicia Rashad, speaking of the accusations of sexual assault against Bill Cosby, had the gall to say “forget these women” and to insinuate that the allegations were the result of some kind of grand conspiracy against her TV husband, the sound of a thousand “Bye Phylicias” peeled out across the internet almost instantly.
Then, three more women came forward to say that Bill Cosby had assaulted them, taking Ms. Rashad to task for being so dismissive.
Rashad, however is now telling ABC News that Showbiz 411 misquoted her. She says that she did not say “forget these women,” but that she said “This is not about the women. This is about something else. This is about the obliteration of legacy.”
Which, sorry Phylicia, is not much better. It is very much about the women. They matter.
What Rashad is essentially saying is that these women should have thought more about the importance of Bill Cosby’s legacy before they went and told on him. It’s a thing women are told over and over again. Much of the media coverage surrounding the Steubenville rape case was over what “bright futures” those young boys had, and hand wringing over whether or not this “incident” would put their possible football careers in jeopardy.
Source: YouTube
Bill Cosby’s fabulous legacy, in fact, is very likely the reason these women didn’t report these assaults until now. Reporting a rape or a sexual assault is hard enough to begin with, and women often feel they won’t be believed. In the case of someone like Bill Cosby, the women are definitely sure they won’t be believed, and probably not that excited about the idea of what accusing Bill Cosby all by themselves could do to their lives.
Rashad essentially states that she’s put horseblinders on when it’s come to the allegations against Cosby, and clearly doesn’t care whether they are true or not. That’s the gist of it. It’s not that she doesn’t believe these women, it’s that she doesn’t think they matter. And that stings.
At the end of the interview, ABC’s Linsey Davis questioned her about the “conspiratorial” angle, asking who, exactly, would have a vested interest in destroying Bill Cosby’s legacy. “That’s my question, too,” Rashad responded.
I’m sorry, Phylicia, unless you have some serious evidence that the government is using chemtrails to convince women they were raped by Bill Cosby or something, you can’t really go around claiming that this is some kind of actual conspiracy. No one has a vested interest in destroying Bill Cosby’s legacy. Certainly not Beverly Johnson. Did the government MK-ULTRA Beverly Johnson into believing she was drugged by Bill Cosby? I’m gonna guess not. Is it the Illuminati? Or the Masons? Or the Lizard People? I don’t know. Call me crazy, but I am pretty sure that the Reptoids and the Bilderberg Group have better things to do than mess with the “legacy” of a 1980s sitcom star. [ABC N]
Original by Robyn Pennacchia
