Tom Werner Talks Bill Cosby Scandal Impact On ‘The Cosby Show’ As His Attorney Speaks Out

Tom Werner is speaking out on Bill Cosby. The actor starred on many popular series during his time, but it is safe to say that the sexual assault scandal now connected to Cosby has tarnished the name of at least some of those series — if not all.

Tom Werner was one of the people behind The Cosby Show, which aired on NBC for eight seasons during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bill Cosby starred as Cliff Huxtable, and the series followed him and his wife as they raised their large family.

Werner spoke with TV Insider on Friday about The Cosby Show, and he revealed that it had a definite impact on the series and its name. The series is still available for viewing on Hulu and Amazon, but it was pulled off the air on TV Land. BET has recently followed suit by pulling it off the air on Centric TV.

“I do think the show is one of the most ground breaking shows in television. I certainly think that at the moment the show is kind of tarnished. But hopefully people can distinguish between the show and Bill. I think about all the great episodes that we’ve done and the impact that it had. I’m certainly hoping that people can continue to watch it. I’m hoping that time will pass and that all the great acting and the great stories and the memorable moments will still be able to be viewed.”

These comments were the first comments made by Tom Werner since the scandal first broke last year. This scandal is making headlines once again because of new audio that became known earlier this summer.

Just earlier this week, an Inquisitr report revealed that 35 of the women that have accused Bill Cosby of assault have spoken up and shared their stories. Their stories were shared by New York Magazine, and the story’s release started a trend on Twitter called #TheEmptyChair.

Cosby’s attorney has now spoken out about the story in the New York Magazine. Monique Pressley appeared on Huffington Post Live on Friday, and she put the responsibility on the women, suggesting that they should have reported their incidents right after their happened.

“The only way for a woman to get the justice that she seeks — and that, if her allegation is true, that she deserves — is to come forward [soon after the crime]. And even if the reasons that the women did not do that are legitimate ones, what cannot happen — in my opinion, in the United States — is that 40 years later there is a persecution tantamount to a witch hunt where there was no prosecution timely and there was no civil suit timely. And there’s not any testimony or any accusation from any of these women that Mr. Cosby in any way bound them, gagged them, prevented them from coming forward and saying whatever their truth was at the time. That’s not what happened.”

This scandal is not going away. It has damaged not only Bill Cosby’s reputation as a human being, but also the projects that he is connected to. That includes The Cosby Show.

What do you think? Would you still watch The Cosby Show now?

[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]