While appearing on a recent episode of Jamie Kennedy’s Hate to Break It to Ya podcast, Raven-Symoné reflected on Bill Cosby’s legacy.
According to Variety, the Raven’s Home star argued that the 88-year-old, who was accused of sexual crimes by more than 60 women in 2014, should also be remembered for his cultural impact and not only the allegations made against him.
Raven-Symoné said Bill Cosby should be credited with changing television and acknowledged his ‘horrific things’
“Separate the creator from the creation,” Raven-Symoné, who appeared on The Cosby Show alongside Cosby as Olivia Kendall, said on the podcast when Kennedy mentioned Cosby. “And that’s just where I live, ’cause the creation changed America, changed television.”
She acknowledged the allegations Cosby has been accused of, but stressed that that shouldn’t taint his legacy and the impact he’s had.
“He’s also been accused of some horrific things,” Raven-Symoné mentioned. “And that does not excuse, but that’s his personal — so personally, keep that there, and then business-wise, know what he did there as well. Like you said, both can live, and I think our culture is right to, you know — don’t do wrong; don’t do wrong personally. You just can’t do wrong.”
Cosby was released from prison in June 2021, but still faces civil cases
According to Parade, Cosby was first accused of sexual assault as early as the 1980s, though it took until 2014, when over 60 women accused him of serious sexual crimes, for a public reckoning. By that point, the statute of limitations had passed on most of the alleged crimes, but in 2015, Cosby was charged in Pennsylvania with three counts of aggravated indecent assault on Andrea Constand. Constand first accused Cosby of sexual assault in 2004, Variety reported.
More allegations against Cosby were made in the years that followed. In 2016, the actor was ordered to stand trial by the Montgomery County Magisterial District Court for sexual assault. That trial, which began in June 2017, ended just 12 days later in a mistrial.
Cosby was later convicted in a 2018 retrial on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison. The conviction was overturned in 2021 because of a previous agreement Cosby had with Montgomery County prosecutor Bruce Castor that he would not be prosecuted if he provided a deposition in Constand’s civil case. Cosby was released from prison in June 2021.
There are ongoing civil cases against Cosby, per Parade.