Bill Cosby throws weight behind on-screen wife Phylicia Rashad

Disgraced actor and comedian Bill Cosby has thrown his weight behind his on-screen wife Phylicia Rashad after she caught flak for celebrating his rape conviction being overturned.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson Andrew Wyatt, Cosby told Howard University—where Rashad was recently named the Dean of the College of Fine Arts—to support her “freedom of speech” amidst calls of her getting stripped of the post.

“Howard University you must support ones Freedom of Speech (Ms. Rashad), which is taught or suppose to be taught everyday at that renowned law school, which resides on your campus,” said Cosby, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Cosby was freed from prison and returned home on Wednesday, less than two hours after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction, saying he never should have faced charges after striking a non-prosecution deal with a previous district attorney more than 15 years ago.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its split decision after Cosby had served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence following his 2018 conviction, prompting outrage from sexual assault victims and their advocates.

The 83-year-old actor and comedian was released from a state prison in Pennsylvania just before 2:30 p.m. (1830 GMT), a corrections department spokesperson said.