Nationwide — First Keshia Knight-Pulliam, and now Phylicia Rashad is defending their former co-star Bill Cosby on recent rape allegations by more than 15 women.In an interview on the Today show, Pulliam, who played Rudy on the Cosby Show said, “Honestly, that’s not the man I know… All I can speak to is the man I know and I love the fact that he has been such an example [and] you can’t take away from the great that he has done, the millions and millions of dollars he has given back to colleges and education, and just what he did with The Cosby Show and how groundbreaking that was.”
On the The Wendy Williams Show, she said, “The Cosbys, we were the first family that no matter what race, religion, you saw yourself in. … At the end of the day they are allegations. … I don’t have that story to tell.”
Rashad, who played Claire Huxtable on the hit show, reiterated the same message.
She told a reporter from Showbizz 411 that she thinks the controversy is a well-coordinated smear campaign. She commented, “Forget these women. What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it’s orchestrated. I don’t know why or who’s doing it, but it’s the legacy. And it’s a legacy that is so important to the culture… Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV, and it’s worked. All his contracts have been canceled.”
Defending the integrity of Cosby’s wife, Camille, Rashad added, “This is a tough woman, a smart woman. She’s no pushover.”
And regarding Cosby not yet making a public statement about the allegations, she said, “If he spoke now, what do you think the media would do with it?”
Watch Keisha Knight-Pulliam’s interview with Wendy Williams below: