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In a tweet, Hubert, 65, accused Rashad, 73, of turning a blind eye to the disgraced comedian’s alleged abuse.
“Phylicia what are you thinking!!! I don’t know you but to say this was terribly wrong,” Hubert wrote on Twitter. “EVERYONE knew what he was doing back then. How could you NOT!”
“Get your umbrella sista here comes the s—t shower,” she added, hinting at backlash that would be coming Rashad’s way.
In a follow-up tweet, the actress suggested Rashad could have said, “he’s old he’s out and I’m happy for him, but he still …guilty” as opposed to her her tweet that said, “FINALLY!!!!A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected!”
“I know 5 women who have not come forward,” Hubert alleged. “Enough ya’ll, we know better. Powerful men do wrong things, black or white…”
“I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward,” the actress wrote in a statement on Twitter and Instagram. “My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth.”
“Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects,” Rashad continued. “My heartfelt wish is for healing.”
Also on Wednesday, Howard University — where Rashad studied and recently was appointed dean of its college of fine arts — released a statementvoicing support for sexual assault survivors.
They expressed that Rashad’s remarks were personal and therefore separate from her role at the university.
“Survivors of sexual assault will always be our first priority,” the statement began. “While Dean Rashad has acknowledged in her follow-up tweet that victims must be heard and believed, her initial tweet lacked sensitivity towards survivors of sexual assault.”
The university added, “Personal positions of University leadership do not reflect Howard University’s policies.”
“We will continue to advocate for survivors fully and support their right to be heard. Howard will stand with survivors and challenge systems that would deny them justice. We have full confidence that our faculty and school leadership will live up to this sacred commitment,” the statement concluded.
Students and alumni of the University have expressed their disappointment in Rashad’s remarks.
“She now has a responsibility to a body of students and in particular women students,” Sheryl Wesley, a Howard alumni (Class of 1996) told NBC News. “She should not feel comfortable to immediately release her personal relief of someone who she considers a friend, but who was convicted of crimes against women. Without concern she openly supported him without considering the institution she has graduated from, and now represents and women who have been victimized.”
His return home was the result of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to overturn his 2018 sexual assault conviction based on the former actor’s agreement with a prosecutor in 2005.
Costand and her attorney’sexpressed their disappointmentin the court’s decision in a statement, but ultimately urged sexual assault survivors “to have their voices heard.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.
source: people.com
