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Actress Phylicia Rashad had no intention of being “insensitive” to sexual assault survivors when she celebrated the overturning of Bill Cosby’s conviction.
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The screen star courted controversy when she took to Twitter to mark Cosby’s release from prison, after judges agreed that his trial – for drugging and sexually assaulting Temple University staff member Andrea Constand at his Pennsylvania home in 2004 – had been unfair and threw out his conviction.
Alongside a since-deleted photo of a smiling Cosby, Phylicia – who had played the actor’s on-screen wife in The Cosby Show – wrote, “FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!”
Her comment quickly attracted backlash from Cosby’s critics, and led to Phylicia returning to the social media site to stress she hadn’t meant any offence with her original post.
“I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward,” she wrote. “My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing.”
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Bosses at the prestigious Howard University, where Rashad is a faculty member, have admonished the actress for lacking “sensitivity.”
The historically black institution in Washington, D.C. addressed the furore after recently appointing the actress as the Dean of Howard’s College of Fine Arts.
“Survivors of sexual assault will always be our priority,” begins a statement issued late on Wednesday.
“While Dean Rashad has acknowledged in her follow-up tweet that victims must be heard and believed, her initial tweet lacked sensitivity towards survivors of sexual assault.”
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“Personal positions of University leadership do not reflect Howard University’s policies,” it continued, although it appears Rashad will retain her academic position.
“We will continue to advocate for survivors fully and support their right to be heard. Howard will stand with survivors and challenge systems that would deny them justice. We have full confidence that our faculty and school leadership will live up to this sacred commitment.”
Phylicia Rashad clarifies Bill Cosby celebration post after backlash - Toronto Sun
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