Bill Cosby and his fans have been communicating in the Pennsylvania courthouse using the catchphrase from his show “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids”: “Hey hey hey!”
It happened most recently on Friday as he left the courtroom in Norristown, Penn., where he faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault. The 79-year-old Cosby, holding the arm of a suit-clad aide, exited the courthouse to a sea of cameras and reporters. In the midst were a group of local fans.
“We love you 100 percent!” two women yelled.
With a smile, Cosby turned his head toward the group, raised his cane and replied, “Hey hey hey!”
“He’s innocent,” the women exclaimed.
Cosby also called out “Hey hey hey” as he arrived at court Friday, and as he left court Wednesday.
The prosecution rested its criminal case Friday after a week that included testimony from Cosby’s chief accuser, Andrea Costand, that he gave her three pills that made her feel frozen as he sexually assaulted her in January 2004.
Cosby has said their relationship and the situation were consensual. Jurors heard testimony from Cosby in a decade-old deposition from a civil case that Costand had filed in which he said he had purchased Quaaludes in the past to provide to willing sexual partners, but only gave Costand one-and-a-half tablets of the decongestant Benedryl.
Cosby’s defense had not planned to put him on the stand to testify in his own defense, but on Friday, his representative, Andrew Wyatt, said nothing was off the table. That raised the possibility that Cosby might face prosecutors from the witness stand next week.
“Fat Albert,” which aired in the 1970s and early ’80s and mixed the animated adventures of Fat Albert and his friends with live-action sequences featuring Cosby, came at a much happier time in Cosby’s career, when he was a family-friendly standup and TV star.
That reputation has been badly damaged. Though dozens of women have accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting them, only Costand’s accusations have led to criminal charges. Cosby has denied any wrongdoing, saying he was targeted because of his fame and success.