(WJW/AP) — Bill Cosby’s former TV wife, Phylicia Rashad, responded shortly after news that the actor’s sex assault conviction was vacated Wednesday with: “FINALLY!!!”
“A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected,” she continued in a tweet. Rashad turned off replies for the tweet, which prompted an angry wave of reactions on social media.
Rashad, who played Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” and is now the dean of Howard University’s College of Fine Arts, has maintained her support for the actor.
Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned Cosby’s sex assault conviction Wednesday after finding an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case. He was released from prison Wednesday afternoon.
Cosby had served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia. He had vowed to serve all 10 years rather than acknowledge any remorse over the 2004 encounter with accuser Andrea Constand.
The 83-year-old Cosby, who was once beloved as “America’s Dad,” was convicted of drugging and molesting the Temple University employee at his suburban estate.
After he was charged in late 2015, Rashad told Showbiz 411 she didn’t see any indication of the behavior women attributed to the legendary actor.
“What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy,” she said at the time. “And 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.”
The actress said she loved Cosby and defended his wife, saying there was no way Camille Cosby would stand for such behavior from her husband of 50 years.
She also spoke on the legacy of the beloved show that cemented her and Cosby as one of TV’s favorite couples.
“This show represented America to the outside world,” she said. “This was the American family. And now you’re seeing it being destroyed. Why?”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.