Phylicia Rashad Says Her Defense of Bill Cosby Was Misquoted

By Lanford Beard @lanfordbeard 01/07/2015 AT 09:30 PM EST Phylicia Rashad is setting the record straight about her recent comments defending her former costar Bill Cosby. In an exclusive interview on World News Tonight with David Muir Wednesday night, Rashad, 66, said remarks attributed to her in Roger Friedman's Showbiz 411 column Tuesday – in which she was quoted as saying, "Forget these women" – are not accurate. "That is not what I said. What I said is, 'this is not about the women. This is about something else. This is about the obliteration of legacy.'" "I am a woman," Rashad continued. "I would never say such a thing." In a clarification posted on his site Wednesday night, Freedman wrote: "Let me clear something. I did not misquote Phylicia Rashad. But she didn't mean for it to be taken the way it was, and I should have punctuated. There was NEVER the meaning in 'Forget those women' that she was saying to actually forget or dismiss then. She meant, 'those women aside' – as in, she's not talking about that, she's talking about Cosby’s legacy being destroyed." Speaking to ABC, Rashad declined to comment about the myriad of accusations facing her former costar. "I can't speak to those things and wouldn't want to." The interview comes in the wake of a press conference Wednesday called by attorney Gloria Allred in which three more women came forward to accuse Cosby of sexual assault. Before the women gave their statements, Allred had several pointed comments to make about Rashad. "Phylicia, you should be supporting these women," the attorney said. "Phylicia, if anyone did to you or to your daughter, your sister or or your mother, what Cosby is alleged to have done to these women, I have no doubt that you would not be saying forget these women." The full interview with Rashad airs Thursday at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC's Nightline.