(Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)
A day after the verdict in the Bill Cosby rape case was handed down, actress Gabrielle Union fired off a couple of tweets seemingly directed at his supporters.
Cosby was found guilty Thursday on all counts of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand. Union then took to social media to share her story of surviving rape.
“I was raped at 19. He rapes another woman B4 he turns himself in. He took a plea deal & got 33yrs,” the actress tweeted Friday, April 27. “I sued Payless Shoe Source 4 $$$ as they knew the rapist was a former employee & didn’t warn any1. I received a settlement. NO ONE has EVER accused me of using my rape as a cash grab.”
“I don’t talk about being a rape survivor to cash in or gain ‘rape fame’… I speak my truth in hopes of helping other survivors feel less alone, and to offer help & hope,” she added. “If you are a rape apologist unfollow me now. You will not be missed. #MeToo.”
The posts come after several Cosby supporters have claimed some of the more than 60 accusers were trying to make some cash after accusing him of drugging and molesting them over the course of five decades.
“I’m still on the fence on this Bill Cosby deal,” a Twitter user said the day the verdict was handed down. “Kinda seems like a money grab. Not saying he’s innocent but it seems a bit slanted.”
“This is a money grab and punishment. Remember, he spoke out against all the networks, wanted to buy out a major network to start his own,” another said. “Pump more thought-provoking TV and of course more Black-based TV. Soon after…all these allegations came. Bulls—.”
In response to Union’s tweets, many have given their thoughts on rape apologists.
“The mental gymnastics people use to try to justify rape is insane,” a user tweeted. “Cosby admittedly gave a woman quaaludes [without] her knowledge & had sex [with] her. He wasn’t buying NBC for $4B in ’92 & even if so, it was ’04 when he raped her. The ‘taking a Black man down‘ mantra is exhausting.”
“It’s a lot easier way to make cash [than] that,” another said. “It’s shameful someone would say that about a survivor. Keep speaking, people need to hear the truth.”
“I am so sorry you experienced that attack,” someone else said. “Thank you for sharing. I am so tired of hearing about how sexual assault victims are out for a payday. Justice is what we want!!!”
