Phylicia Rashad "poured fuel on an already incendiary situation" with her celebration of Bill Cosby's release from prison

Los Angeles Times

"It was an example of a hallowed celebrity tradition, the seriously-no-one-asked-why-are-you-talking-right-now tweet, one that poured fuel on an already incendiary situation," Meredith Blake says of Rashad's initial tweet saying "A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected!" Rashad later walked back her tweet. Blake added: "Never mind that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in no way exonerated Cosby of the charges against him as Rashad seemed to be arguing. The actress — or whoever handles her social media accounts — surely knew her comment would be controversial: Replies on the tweet were limited to the two accounts she follows, one of which belongs to her sister, Debbie Allen. And within a few hours, Rashad tried to walk back her statement, though as of this writing she has not deleted the original tweet. Outrage over the stunning reversal of Cosby’s conviction quickly morphed into anger at Rashad, who — until Wednesday, at least — remained a cherished performer, untarnished by her longstanding association with and previous defense of Cosby. (In a 2015 interview she suggested Cosby was the victim of a conspiracy). Just last month Rashad was named dean of the Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University." Meanwhile, Howard University issued a statement saying Rashad's tweet "lacked sensitivity," while NBC declined comment on Rashad, who recurs on This Is Us.