Malcolm-Jamal Warner on ‘Cosby Show’: Legacy ‘tarnished’
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who plays Theo Huxtable’s son on “The Cosby Show,” said the sitcom’s legacy has been “tarnished” by a series of sexual allegations against its star, Bill Cosby.
“My biggest concern is that when it comes to images of people of color on television and movies, no matter what… negative stereotypes about people of color, we have ‘The Cosby Show’ to against that,” Warner told The Associated Press in an interview this week.
“And the fact that we don’t have that anymore, that’s what saddens me the most, because in a few generations, the Huxtables will just be a fairy tale.”
Warner becomes the latest cast member of the long-running hit — widely praised for its depiction of a wholesome, successful black family — to weigh in on the mushrooming scandal that has dogged Cosby in year and forced fans to reconsider his image as a close father figure.
The veteran comedian and sex performer has been accused by more than 40 women of decades-long misconduct. In court testimony 10 years ago, Cosby said he had sex with at least five women outside of marriage and prescribed sedatives to the women he wanted to have sex with.
Cosby, 78, has never been charged with a crime and vehemently denies wrongdoing. He is scheduled to give testimony Friday in a civil lawsuit that alleges he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1974.
NBC’s “Dateline” was scheduled to air a joint interview Friday with Cosby’s 27 accusers. And just last week, three more women came forward to accuse Cosby of sexually inappropriate behavior, including sexual assault, dating back to the 1970s.
As entertainers increasingly denounced Cosby, his “Cosby Show” co-stars expressed more muted reactions.
Phylicia Rashad, Cosby’s television wife, expressed support for him in January, saying the allegations were “orchestrated” as part of an effort to keep him away from television. Since then, she has said little about the scandal.
Keshia Knight Pulliam, who plays Huxtable’s youngest daughter, defended the show’s legacy in an interview published this week.
“You cannot take back the impact it has had on generations of children and it continues to have a positive impact on them,” the actress told Grio. Regarding the allegations against Cosby, Pulliam said, “That’s not the man I know.”
Cosby’s other TV daughters, actresses Sabrina Le Beauf, Lisa Bonet and Tempestt Bledsoe, have not commented publicly on the allegations.
But actor Joseph C. Phillips, who played Cosby’s son-in-law for three seasons of the show, posted an essay online in July titled “Of course Bill Cosby is guilty!”
“As the accusations began to mount, I became increasingly worried,” he wrote. “I’m pretty sure some of the women lied, but certainly not all of them.”
In comments in January about Cosby’s allegations, Warner expressed cautious support for his former TV father.
“I can’t really talk about any of the allegations, because obviously I wasn’t there. The Bill Cosby I knew was wonderful to me and so many people. What he did for comedy and television was legendary and made history. What he did for the community and black education was invaluable. That’s the Bill Cosby I know. I can’t talk about other things,” Warner told Billboard.
After “The Cosby Show” ended in 1992, Warner had a successful second career as a Grammy-winning director and musician.
He told the AP this week that he had been in contact with Cosby, but he declined to comment on their conversation.
“I think the things we discussed really had to be kept between us,” Warner, 45, said. “But it was just a terrible situation all around — for him, for his family, the women, their families, the legacy of the show.”
