Disney child star defends Bill Cosby’s work

A co-star from “The Cosby Show” says there should be nuance when talking about Bill Cosby’s career.

Cosby’s iconic family sitcom aired from September 1984 to April 1992 and is frequently mentioned among the greatest shows of all time, including in TV Guide’s top 50 shows list of 2002.

With Cosby since being accused of a plethora of sex crimes, networks pulled his show from the air and seemingly kept it off following an overturned conviction and release from prison in 2021.

Now, one of his former castmates is saying it’s time to separate Cosby’s personal life from his creative works.

‘Black people pushed through the door, and now we’re getting all colors.’

Appearing on an episode of actor Jamie Kennedy’s “Hate to Break It to Ya” podcast, a former child actor and Disney star came to the defense of the 88-year-old’s show, on which she starred.

“Separate the creator from the creation,” Raven-Symoné said. The actress played Olivia Kendall on “The Cosby Show.”

“That’s just where I live because the creation changed America, changed television,” she said of Cosby’s family-oriented program.

Quoth the Raven

The 39-year-old, whose full name is Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman-Maday, has had a long and successful career appearing in countless sitcoms, while shining as a young adult in the Disney kid classic “That’s So Raven,” which had 100 episodes in the mid-2000s.

At the same time, Symoné did not excuse Cosby’s alleged crimes on the podcast.

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Photo By: Art Murphy/NBC) via Getty Images

After host Kennedy noted how many black people Cosby had provided jobs to, Symoné jumped in:

“He also has been accused of some horrific things,” she added, before reiterating, “And that does not excuse, but that’s his personal [life]. 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 — don’t do wrong. Don’t do wrong personally. You just can’t do wrong.”

Color commentary

Kennedy and Symoné went back and forth on how great diversity is, with Symoné saying “thank goodness” to the idea of diversity being “protected” in the entertainment industry.

“Black people pushed through the door, and now we’re getting all colors, all types, all backgrounds, and it’s protected — thank goodness — now. So, it’s mandatory in a way,” she explained.

Kennedy agreed that diversity is a strength, pulling from his own experience living near “the hood” in Philadelphia.

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Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Teen Vogue

You don’t say

The former “View” pundit has never been shy about broadcasting her opinions.

Before the 2016 election, Symoné said she would leave the country if Donald Trump became president.

“I’m going to move to Canada with my entire family. I already have my ticket,” she said to then-cohost Whoopi Goldberg.

In 2022, she colloquially called for a “Don’t Say Straight” bill to be drafted in Florida in response to a law that Democrats dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The term was born out of a misunderstanding of Florida law that barred teachers in the state from teaching about gender and sexuality with certain age groups.

Symoné is a lesbian and hosts a podcast with her wife, Miranda Maday. This is where Symoné reflected on commentary she made in 2014 when she said she was sick of being labeled.

“I don’t want to be labeled gay,” she said at the time, per ABC News. “I want to be labeled a human who loves humans.”

She added, “I’m tired of being labeled — I’m an American. I’m not an African-American. I’m an American.”

Symoné clarified in 2024 that she obviously knows where her ancestry lies and said that people had accused her of not considering herself black.

“When I am in another country, they don’t say, ‘Hey, look at that African-American over there.’ They say, ‘That’s an American,’ plain and simple.”

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