An actor who worked alongside Bill Cosby for years has said ‘of course’ the more than 30 rape allegations leveled against the comedian are true.
Joseph C. Phillips, who played Cosby’s son-in-law Martin Kendall on the NBC sitcom, has written a blog post called ‘Of Course Bill Cosby Is Guilty!’ that says while he didn’t witness anything himself, he quickly realized after joining the show in 1989 that ‘it seemed to be common knowledge that Bill played around’.
‘Bill sleeping around was a fact that, like, the air, seemed to just be,’ Phillips wrote.
‘The Cos was a ladies man, but also a good father and husband – devoted to his wife and children.’
The blog continued: ‘Bill was educated; he collected art and was fluent in jazz.
‘After my father, Bill Cosby was the man I aspired to be. Few get an opportunity to meet their idol, much less work with them.
‘I was blessed in that regard, and even more blessed that I found my idol as clever, kind and brilliant as I had imagined.’
However Phillips goes on to explain how, once the rape allegations surfaced last year, he met with a woman who claimed Cosby had violated ‘her body and her trust’.
Phillips recalled saying to the woman: ‘Back in the day,’ I started. ‘I remember that you knew Bill – that he was like your mentor or something. Did he ever…’ Before I finished the sentence, she began to cry,’ he wrote.
‘We spent the next two hours sitting on a bench talking. Through tears, she told me her story.
‘She cursed him for violating both her trust and her body. She cursed herself for not being smarter, and for degrading herself in pursuit of success.
‘I listened patiently. As she began to run out of steam, she turned to me. ‘Do you believe me?’
Phillips went on: ‘I battled my emotions. I felt for my friend, for the violation of her trust, loyalty and body. I was angry with Bill.
‘He had money, fame and power; he was a walking aphrodisiac! Why? I was also angry at myself for falling for the okey-doke, of putting Bill on a pedestal.’
However, Phillips finishes the blog by telling Cosby to ‘go live a quiet country life’.
‘The good Bill has done over the years is real and enduring,’ he wrote. ‘I am not prepared to simply dismiss his brilliance, his wisdom, or his legacy.
‘It is with all of the love I still have for him and the reverence of one who has idolized him for a lifetime that I offer this plea.
‘Bill, you have a family who loves you, a wife who is devoted to you; you have more money than you can spend. Please, go live a quiet country life. Allow those of us who truly love you to preserve just a bit of our enchantment.’
Last Monday saw the release of a 2005 deposition in which the accused actor admitted to buying Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to women before sex and even giving them to one woman in the past.
