Phylicia Rashad Apologizes to Howard University Students for Bill Cosby Tweet, Will Undergo Training

By Teddy Grant Published: July 5, 2021

Phylicia Rashad Apologizes to Howard University Students for Bill Cosby Tweet, Will Undergo Training

FILE - In this Thursday, May 2, 2002 file photo, members of Bill Cosby's television family, the Huxtables, gather in NBC's Today show studio for an interview with co-host Katie Couric, in New York. From left are Sabrina Le Beauf, Tempest Bledsoe, Cosby, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Phylicia Rashad, Raven Symone and Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Cosby is facing the start of a sentencing hearing on Monday, Sept. 24, 2018, at which a judge will decide how to punish the 81-year-old comedian who was convicted in April of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University athletics employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Howard University’s new dean of the College of Fine Arts, Phylicia Rashad, apologized to students and parents following controversy over her show of support of former co-star Bill Cosby’s release from prison last week.

“I offer my most sincere apology. I have since removed that upsetting tweet,” she wrote in an email to students, adding that she will “participate in trainings” to not only reinforce University protocols but to “become a stronger ally to sexual assault survivors and everyone who has suffered at the hands of an abuser.”

On Wednesday, Rashad tweeted, “FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” following the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturning Cosby’s sexual assault conviction after it was revealed that he struck a deal with a previous prosecutor that he would not be charged criminally if he testified in a civil case.

Shortly following her controversial tweet, Rashad had written that she fully supported sexual assault survivors coming forward. “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.”

Howard University released a statement on Wednesday that “survivors of sexual assault” will always be a priority for the school and that Rashad’s views do not reflect its policies.

In 2018, Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.