Raven-Symoné Separates Bill Cosby’s ‘Horrific’ Actions From Impact on TV
What To Know
- Raven-Symoné stated she separates Bill Cosby’s “horrific” personal actions from his significant impact on television.
- She emphasized that The Cosby Show broke barriers.
- Raven-Symoné credited her experience on The Cosby Show for shaping her career.
Raven-Symoné says she separates the “horrific” actions of her former The Cosby Show costar, Bill Cosby, from the undeniable impact he’s had on TV.
During an appearance on the Hate to Break It to Ya podcast, the child actress behind Olivia Kendall — the step-granddaughter of Cliff (Cosby) and Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad) on the popular ’80s and ’90s sitcom — opened up about her feelings after Cosby served nearly three years in prison for aggravated sexual assault. He was released in 2021 following a mistrial, a conviction, and a reversal in the complicated case.
“There’s so many things that Bill Cosby pioneered and literally broke the wall,” the podcast host, Scream actor Jamie Kennedy, pointed out of The Cosby Show, which was the first commercially successful sitcom featuring a middle-upper-class Black family.
“Separate the creator from the creation. And that’s just where I live,” Raven-Symoné said of her perspective on Cosby today. “The creation changed America… changed television.”
She continued, “He’s also been accused of some horrific things. 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.”
Additionally, Raven-Symoné said that The Cosby Show “deserves all of its flowers, no matter what happened after.”
“I will always credit everyone on that set from top to bottom for creating who I am today and allowing me to have the career that I have,” she explained. “They took a chance on someone who had never been in the industry before.”
After portraying the spunky Olivia on The Cosby Show, Raven-Symoné notably starred in the Disney Channel show That’s So Raven from 2003 to 2007.
The Cosby Show premiered in 1984 and ran for eight seasons, ending in 1992. Aside from Cosby, Rashad, and Raven-Symoné, the sitcom starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Tempestt Bledsoe, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Sabrina Le Beauf, Lisa Bonet, and Geoffrey Owens, among others.