With new revelations about Bill Cosby continuing to surface — most recently, from a decade-old deposition obtained by the New York Times— the legacy of the Cosby Show, the comedian’s once-beloved sitcom, is irreparably damaged.
But Cliff Huxtable isn’t the only member of his sitcom family affected by the controversy; as the comedian’s career tanks, the reputations of his Cosby Show castmates also continue to suffer.
So where do the rest of the Huxtables stand on the scandal? Cosby’s former co-stars have issued a range of responses to the allegations over the past few months, from defending Cosby to condemning his behavior.
Phylicia Rashad (Clair Huxtable)
Rashad hasn’t spoke publicly about Cosby since January, when she claimed she was misquoted after speaking out in support of her former TV husband.
“Forget those women,” Rashad told Showbiz 411 in a feverishly circulated quote, before condemning the claims made against Cosby by a new string of accusers, including models Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson.
“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.”
The day after, Rashad claimed her “Forget these women” quote was misrepresented, but stood by her defense of Cosby’s legacy. “That was a misquote,” she told ABC News. “What I said is this is not about the women. This is about something else. This is about the obliteration of a legacy…I am a woman. I would never say such a thing.”
The original Showbiz 411 writer, Roger Friedman, clarified that Rashad’s quote read differently than it was intended.
“There was NEVER the meaning in ‘Forget those women’ that she was saying to actually forget or dismiss then,” Friedman wrote in a note on the site. “She meant, ‘those women aside’ – as in, she’s not talking about that, she’s talking about Cosby’s legacy being destroyed.”
Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy)
Following an awkward Cosby-related incident on Celebrity Apprentice in January, Keshia Knight Pulliam told USA TODAY that the Bill Cosby who allegedly assaulted 40+ women is “just not the man I know.”
On a January episode of Celebrity Apprentice, Knight Pulliam was fired for not calling Bill Cosby as part of a challenge. In the days after, the actress hit the talk show circuit to express her support for Cosby, dispelling the rumors that she didn’t reach out to Cosby because of the allegations against him.
“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,” she told TODAY.
Like Rashad, Knight Pulliam also defended the Cosby Show’s legacy. “The Cosbys, we were the first family that no matter what race, religion, you saw yourself in,” she told Wendy Williams, before addressing the charges against Cosby. “At the end of the day they are allegations. … I don’t have that story to tell.”
Malcom-Jamal Warner (Theo)
Malcom-Jamal Warner, like Knight Pulliam, has been silent on the Cosby allegations since January, when he spoke to Cosby’s upstanding character while skirting the topic of his TV dad’s alleged crimes.
“He’s one of my mentors, and he’s been very influential and played a big role in my life as a friend and mentor,” Warner told Billboard in January. “The Bill Cosby I know has been great to me and great for a lot of people,” he said. “What he’s done for comedy and television has been legendary and history-making.”
“What he’s done for the black community and education has been invaluable,” he continued. “That’s the Bill Cosby I know.”
Warner didn’t address the allegations against Cosby, on the basis that he “wasn’t there.”
“I can’t speak on the other stuff,” he told Billboard. “Just as it’s painful to hear any woman talk about sexual assault, whether true or not, it’s just as painful to watch my friend and mentor go through this.”
Lisa Bonet (Denise)
Bonet has been all-but-silent about the Cosby allegations, save for one suspicious tweet from last November that some people interpreted as a veiled reference to Cosby’s guilt.
Posted on an account bearing Bonet’s name and picture, the tweet read,”According to the karma of past actions, one’s destiny unfolds, even though everyone wants to be so lucky … Nothing stays in the dark 4ever!”
Bonet’s rep told the LA Times that the tweet, which has since been removed, came from a fake Twitter account, and that Bonet “continues to have no comment on the subject.”
“Lisa Bonet has no social media of any kind,” her manager confirmed to People.
Tempestt Bledsoe (Vanessa)
The actress hasn’t commented publicly about the Cosby allegations.
