Keshia Knight Pulliam, the actress who charmed America as Rudy, the youngest of Bill Cosby’s exceptional brood on the groundbreaking The Cosby Show, accompanied Cosby to trial on Monday. (Cosby is on trial in Pennsylvania for decades-old sexual assault allegations.) Though some early supporters of Cosby like Whoopi Goldberg have pulled away as the number of women accusing Cosby grew, Knight Pulliam’s loyalty is obviously unswerving.
[related: Phylicia Rashad’s Strange Distance From Bill Cosby]
Knight Pulliam knows something about famous, powerful men in the entertainment business whose exploits have been linked to sexual assault. In a recent career move, the actress appeared on Celebrity Apprentice in 2015 when it was hosted by Donald Trump. Knight Pulliam’s downfall on Trump’s show — she was fired — came after she refused to use her connection with Cosby to help her succeed. Trump asked her to reach out to “that gentleman” — Bill Cosby — to help her move product at her Apprentice bake sale. Trump said:
“I really believe, if you’d called that gentleman, he would’ve helped you, even if you hadn’t spoken to him in years because you were an amazing team with one of the most successful shows ever. So I think it would’ve been a very good call to make for charity. But you have to take responsibility. I think you agree with that.”
