Bill Cosby's Publicist Talks 'Persecuted Jesus,' Plight of Black People as TV Dad Goes to Prison
Disgraced TV star Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison Tuesday which his publicist compared to the persecution of Jesus and the plight of black people in America.
"Mr. Cosby's doing great and Mr. Cosby knows that God is watching over him. He knows that these are lies," publicist Andrew Wyatt told reporters.
"They persecuted Jesus and look what happened. [I'm] not saying Mr. Cosby is Jesus but we know what this country has done to black men for centuries," Wyatt added.
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The 81-year-old Cosby, who became a household name in the 1980s with "The Cosby Show" program, has been found guilty of three counts of sexual assault concerning drugging and molesting a woman in 2004.
BBC News reported that the celebrity, who has denied the charges against him, has been categorized as a sexually violent predator. He was led away in handcuffs on Tuesday after the sentencing in Pennsylvania, and driven to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
The victim, Andrea Constand, said that she trusted Cosby as a mentor, but he had given her pills that left her "frozen" and unable to stop his attack.
"To truly understand the impact that the sexual assault has had on my life, you have to understand the person that I was before it happened," the woman has said.
"I was at the top of my game, certain that the groundwork provided by my education and athletic training would stand me in good stead whatever challenges lay ahead..." she added.
"After the assault, I wasn't sure what had actually happened but the pain spoke volumes. The shame was overwhelming. Self-doubt and confusion kept me from turning to my family or friends as I normally did. I felt completely alone, unable to trust anyone, including myself."
Wyatt lashed out after the sentencing and said that Cosby was "one of the greatest civil rights leaders in the United States for 50 years." He argued that the trial was "the most sexist and racist" in America's history.
The accusations and guilty verdict against Cosby have led to several award-giving bodies to recall the honors they bestowed upon the TV star. In May, he was stripped of the Kennedy Center Honors that he received in 1998, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor that was given to him in 2009.
"The Honors and Mark Twain Prize are given to artists who, through their lifetime of work, have left an indelible impact on American culture," a spokesperson for the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said at the time.
"As a result of Mr. Cosby's recent criminal conviction, the Board concluded that his actions have overshadowed the very career accomplishments these distinctions from the Kennedy Center intend to recognize," the spokesperson added.
