Bill Cosby Calls Trial a “Setup” in Rare Prison Interview

Bill Cosby on Sunday opened up about life in prison when he spoke to the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s BlackPressUSA.com.

Back in September 2018, the comedian was sentenced to three to 10 years behind bars for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his gated estate.

“I have eight years and nine months left,” Cosby said during the rare interview. “When I come up for parole, they’re not going to hear me say that I have remorse. I was there. I don’t care what group of people come along and talk about this when they weren’t there. They don’t know.”

Cosby also reflected on his trial, which he believes was unjust and unfair.

“It’s all a setup. That whole jury thing. They were imposters,” he said of the group of people that determined his fate behind bars.

“Look at the woman who blew the whistle,” he said in reference to a potential juror overhearing a seated juror state before the trial that Cosby was guilty.

“Then she went in and came out smiling; it’s something attorneys will tell you is called a payoff,” Cosby continued. “I know what they’ve done to my people. But my people are going to view me and say, ‘That boy looks good. That boy is strong.’ I have too many heroes that I’ve sat with. Too many heroes whom I listened to like John Henrik Clarke, Kenneth Clark and Dorothy Height. Those people are very strong, and they saw the rejection of their people. This is political. I can see the whole thing.” He added, “I am a privileged man in prison.”

During the interview, Cosby referred to his small prison cell inside SCI-Phoenix in suburban Philadelphia as his “penthouse.” 

He added that he spends many of his days speaking to fellow inmates as part of the prison reform program Mann Up. The program is designed to encourage and empower African-American men to strive for self-respect and dignity, as well as put their families first.

“I don’t belong to the Mann Up Association, but it’s a privilege to come in and speak,” said Cosby. “I never wanted them to lord me up. This is a great privilege.

“I’m not a psychiatrist, and I’m not a psychologist. I’m an educator, and what I look forward to is talking to this group of 400 or so men. Some of them here are in their 70s, in their 50s, their 40s, 30s and 20s,” Cosby said of his work for the reform program. “I tell them what I know and what I feel.”

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