Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played Theo Huxtable on all eight seasons of the iconic family sitcom “The Cosby Show,” has spoken out for the first time on allegations by over 50 women that they were drugged and/or raped by his once-squeaky clean TV dad Bill Cosby.
“My biggest concern is when it comes to images of people of color on television and film, no matter what … negative stereotypes of people of color, we've always had 'The Cosby Show' to hold up against that,” Warner told the Associated Press in an interview to promote his upcoming album “Selfless.” “And the fact that we no longer have that, that's the thing that saddens me the most because in a few generations the Huxtables will have been just a fairy tale.”
Warner, who described the show's legacy as “tarnished,” said he had been in touch with Cosby since the allegations surfaced but would not provide any details on their conversations.
“I think the things that we discussed really have to stay private between us. But it's just a bad situation all around – for him, for his family, the women, their families, the legacy of the show,” he said.
Warner's comments were in direct opposition to his onetime co-star Keshia Knight-Pulliam (a.k.a. Rudy Huxtable), who earlier this week told The Grio that she doesn't believe the show's legacy will be diminished by the allegations.
“I can say that, based upon the people that continuously approach me and talk about how it”s profoundly impacted their lives, I don”t feel you can take that back,” she said. “You can”t take back the impact that it”s had on generations of kids, and it”s continuing to have such a positive impact on them. So I feel like the place that it has in people”s hearts is such a nostalgic part of childhood and beyond, it”s going to be difficult to take back those memories.”
Hard not to side with Malcolm on this point…