After months of being on the defensive, Bill Cosby’s longtime friend and actress Phylicia Rashad argued for him after she recently broken her silence about the many rape allegations associated with Cosby, calling the allegations an attack on his legacy.

“Forget these women … What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy,” Rashad said. “And I think it’s orchestrated. I don’t know why or who’s doing it, but it’s the legacy.”

“… Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV, and it’s worked. All his contracts have been cancelled,” she said.

Now Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played Cosby’s TV daughter “Rudy Huxtable” on the show, draws attention to the allegations, saying they are just that–allegations.

“I wasn’t there, no one was there except for the two people to know exactly what happened,” she said. “All I can speak to is the man that I know and I love.” She added, “It’s very much been played out in the court of public opinion. We’re still in America where ultimately you’re innocent until proven guilty.”

Cosby has yet to break his silence on the rape allegations surrounding him.

However, some historically black college and university leaders have made moves to protect their brands from the rape allegations linked to Cosby by distancing themselves from the matter altogether. Most notably Spelman College, who in 1988 was gifted a $20 million donation from Cosby and his wife Camille, broke ties with Cosby after indefinitely suspending the William and Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Endowed Professorship.

“The William and Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Endowed Professorship was established to bring positive attention and accomplished visiting scholars to Spelman College in order to enhance our intellectual, cultural and creative life,” according to a press release by Spelman officials. “The current context prevents us from continuing to meet these objectives fully.”

Several HBCUs currently still has strong ties with Cosby, and many buildings on Black college campuses nationwide are named after the famed star.

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