Andrea Constand is speaking out following the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Bill Cosby’s conviction for sexual assault.
Constand, whose accusations led to Cosby’s initial conviction in 2018, spoke to NBC News senior national correspondent Kate Snow for “Today”.
She said of seeing Cosby, 84, celebrate his release earlier this year: “Disgusting. Didn’t surprise me, given the level of the arrogance and having no remorse. During the time he was incarcerated, absolutely zero remorse for what he did to me.
“He’s a sexually violent predator who basically was let out of jail.”
“Bill Cosby walks free. But it doesn't change the fact that my testimony was believed.”
Bill Cosby accuser Andrea Constand speaks exclusively to @tvkatesnow about Cosby's release from prison. pic.twitter.com/90t863iMzl
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 7, 2021
Cosby, who was convicted in 2018 on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and assaulting Constand in 2004, had served nearly three years of a three-to-10-year sentence when he was released.
According to “Today”, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had ruled that because the district attorney had promised Cosby back in 2005 that he would never be criminally charged despite eventually doing so 10 years later, the star’s due process rights had been violated.
Constand, who lives north of Toronto, commented on Cosby’s suggestion he may tour following his release, “I don’t really care. But anybody that gives him a platform to speak, to joke — rape is not a joke.”
Her interview comes after she told the New York Times of her reaction to Cosby’s reversed conviction: “I had a lump in my throat. I really felt they were setting a predator loose and that made me sick.”
Sixty women, including Constand, have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct — groping to sexual assault to rape — alleged to have taken place since the ’60s. Constand speaks further about her experience with Cosby and the criminal justice system in her new memoir The Moment: Standing Up To Bill Cosby, Speaking Up For Women.
She said of not having regrets, “I hope it doesn’t deter anybody. I hope people will still find their voices. I hope that they don’t look at his freedom as a reason not to come forward. Quite the contrary, I hope they feel, If Andrea can do it, I can do it.”
Constand added in the “Today” chat: “I have come way too far to go back to that place to wonder whether it’s all worth it, or to have regrets.
“It was worth it. It was worth it. All the pain, all the heartache all the reputational damage, not only for me, but my family. But it was worth it. Because I didn’t feel alone. I had a whole community, a whole army of women and other survivors, strangers, family, friends, who were right there with me.”
