Here's What Everyone Who's Worked With Bill Cosby Has Had To Say About The Allegations Against Him
Lisa Bonet, who played Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show, has all but refused to give a public statement on Cosby's allegations. Whether it's to protect privacy or her career or because she just doesn't want to talk about it is unclear.
That said, her daughter, Zoë Kravitz, was willing to speak, if briefly, on her mother's opinion on the matter back in May 2017. She didn't say much, but when asked what Bonet thought about the whole situation, Kravitz told Allure:
I think she didn't like hearing that. It bummed her out. Though she didn't seem incredibly surprised about it. I don't think she wants to hear about anyone being abused, especially by someone she spent so much time with. It feels sh*tty. You want to shower.
Raven-Symoné first encountered Cosby when she auditioned for a role for his film Ghost Dad. He thought she was too young for the part, but he was so impressed with her that he wrote her into The Cosby Show as his step-granddaughter Olivia.
As of July 2017, she stars in a That's So Raven spin-off, Raven's Home, but for a while she was one of the hosts of The View, and it was on that show, back in July 2015, that she first reacted to the Cosby news.
Though she's given interviews since, it sounds like Symoné is still sort of holding out for actual "proof" of Cosby's misdeeds. Specifically, she sees Cosby in a highly positive light, and she doesn't want to make any judgments. Until he's fully convicted with easily identifiable evidence, Symoné likely isn't going to say anything too definitive.
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- The Huntington, Boston, MA
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner was Cosby's fictional son, playing Theodore Huxtable on The Cosby Show. Unlike his fictional sisters, it didn't take Warner very long to discuss his feelings on the Cosby accusations. Back in March 2016, Warner told Entertainment Tonight that he felt "several different ways," but he made sure to emphasize that he was losing money in the process.
Warner said, "Because the show was taken off the air; it's literally taking money out of my pocket," which doesn't seem like the biggest deal in the world, until he makes his next point which is that other famous celebrity creators like Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, and Stephen Collins still get work today despite their own sex crimes.
Warner hints at a possible racial motivation behind the differing public attitudes, but it's clear that the culture as a whole has radically shifted since this interview, and famous men are being accused of sex crimes left and right.
It's not clear if that makes Warner feel better about losing that syndication money, though.
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To this day, Phylicia Rashād is best known as Cosby's fictional wife, Clair Huxtable, on The Cosby Show, but the two also worked together again on the show Cosby for several seasons.
Rashād has been largely adamant of Cosby's innocence. She got into a bit of trouble initially by suggesting we all "forget these women" back in 2016, but she said she just meant that we shouldn't let this story tarnish Cosby's legacy. She also said she never saw anything like what Cosby's accusers claim during her time working with Cosby.
Eventually, she walked back on her earlier comments a little bit in June 2017 and said she wouldn't defend Cosby, but she also wouldn't "throw him under the bus." Generally speaking, she's made it sound like she's going to let this thing play out in court.
Keshia Knight Pulliam has rarely, if ever, wavered in her support for Cosby. Even during the trial proceedings in June 2017, Pulliam told Today that, "At the end of the day I truly believe you're innocent until proven guilty, and that's just not the man that I ever experienced."
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- David Shankbone
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When Chris Rock was starting out as a comedian, he received a lot of support from Cosby. To this day, Rock cites him as a friend and a powerful mentor, which just makes the allegations against Cosby all the more painful for him.
He hasn't spoken much about the case since, but every time he's asked about it, like in May 2015, he basically just mentions that it's sad:
I haven’t talked to him in a long time. The whole thing is just sad. What can you say? I’m not gonna defend him and I’m not go Judd [Apatow] on him. You do still have to wait, he hasn’t been convicted. But it’s sad.
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Cosby Show Producers Tom Werner And Marcy Carsey Can't Comprehend It
The producers of The Cosby Show, Tom Werner and Marcy Carsey, haven't spoken up much since the allegations, but back in November 2014 as everything was coming to light, they did release a statement to Variety.
They didn't try and dispute the claims, they just reiterated they simply couldn't believe it. They told the outlet, "These recent news reports are beyond our knowledge or comprehension."
It's been awhile since her comments back in January 2016, but Whoopi Goldberg has been one of Cosby's greatest defenders. Though they've never directly worked together on any films or anything, they've been featured together in many comedy showcases and know each other pretty well.
When the news first came out, Goldberg was all in Cosby's corner, claiming he should be "innocent until proven guilty." Since Cosby was formally accused, she started to walk back on those statements, saying she really wanted to hear Cosby's side of the story, and that things weren't looking very good for him.
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In September 2017, Seinfeld originally claimed the quality of Cosby's work outweighed the allegations for him. It took him about a week to realize that wasn't actually true any more.
Seinfeld probably doesn't know Cosby well enough to speak to his personality, and, in fact, Seinfeld believes most comedians are crappy people. Seinfeld told Stephen Colbert he just can't hear Cosby's comedy in the same way anymore. It still may be great stuff, but it's no longer enjoyable for him to listen to.
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Roseanne Barr and Cosby both ran highly successful sitcoms around the same time, and when Barr ran into trouble on her show, Cosby would sometimes call her and give her advice. Barr said that, "Sometimes he advised me well, and other times I didn’t agree with him. But he did reach out to me at the time, and I thought that was cool." That said, Barr thinks it's obvious Cosby is guilty.
In November 2014, Barr pointed to the 13 women that had accused Cosby of rape as an indisputable indication of his guilt. "I don’t wanna get sued or have him send anyone to beat me up, but I think it’s obvious: 13 to 1."
Joseph C. Phillips got to spend a lot of time with Cosby back in the day as his fictional son-in-law, Martin Kendall, on The Cosby Show. That's why it's significant that Phillips wrote a July 2015 blog post titled, "OF COURSE BILL COSBY IS GUILTY!"
In the post, Phillips is effusive in his praise of how wonderful and inspiring Cosby was to him, but he also notes Cosby was well-known as a ladies' man. In stark contrast to many of his other co-workers, Phillips claims Cosby's sexual antics were well known by everybody on set. He claims it was "common knowledge."
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Kimberly Russell first met Cosby on the set of Ghost Dad. She was a newer actress set to co-star as the fictional wife of one of the most legendary comedians of all time. If Cosby had wanted to make a move on her, he would have had ample opportunity to do so, but according to Russell, he never did.
In fact, back in November 2014, Russell told Entertainment Tonight that the two had spent significant time together, alone, rehearsing their parts for the film, and Cosby had always treated her professionally and appropriately. When she heard the accusations, she immediately thought they sounded entirely out of character with her former co-star. At least back then, Russell seriously hoped her friend would "prevail" against the accusations.
