Apparently there’s a code that disgraced celebrities have to stick together. Bill Cosby has come to the defense of convicted sex trafficker R. Kelly, saying the former R&B star “was railroaded” in federal court.
TMZ caught up with Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, and asked if he knew what his client was thinking about Kelly’s conviction on multiple counts of trafficking, racketeering, Mann Act violations, and sexual exploitation of children. “We talked about it today. He was like, ‘Look, the guy was railroaded,'” said Wyatt. “As he said, Gloria Allred did the same thing that she did with him: You parade women out, and you stir up the public sentiment to go against him. And that’s what they did to R. Kelly.”
Allred is the famed women’s rights attorney known for representing victims or alleged victims of high profile suspects such as Kelly, Cosby, Roman Polanski, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more. But to translate the rest of Wyatt’s sentiment, “parade women out” really means “give victims a chance to be heard,” and “stir public sentiment” equates to “convince a court that criminal sex crimes have taken place.”
That’s what she did in both Kelly and Cosby’s case; the latter was only overturned on a procedural technicality, not because the over 60 victims were shown to be fabricating their stories, as Wyatt suggested. In fact, another case centered on a different victim is already moving forward in Los Angeles.
Wyatt went even further to say that all this criminal prosecution of well-documented sexual abuse and assault by Black celebrities is steeped in racism. “What we see in America today, ya know with R. Kelly, is an assault on Black men,” he said. “This is an assault on successful Black men who are doing great things.”
He added that he thinks Kelly has a “strong case on appeal,” noting that Kelly wasn’t given bond like fellow sexual abuser Harvey Weinstein (whom Cosby also defended, ’cause creeps gonna creep.) Wyatt called out “cancel culture” and its targeting of “successful Black men who have wealth,” claiming that Allred’s “racist tactics” has her going after only Black men. Someone please tell him that, yeah, Allred may be a bit of a publicity hound, but Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Tommy Lee, Anthony Weiner, and Schwarzenegger are not, last time we checked, Black men.
Convicted on eight Mann Act violations and one count of racketeering rooted in alleged sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping, and forced labor, Kelly faces 10 years to life in prison. The trial has been a landmark of the #MeToo era, especially considering how open the allegations against Kelly have been for decades. His sentencing is set for May 4th, 2022.
