Disgraced star Bill Cosby makes rare public appearance — wearing USC Gamecocks gear

When Bill Cosby was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in 2018, the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees revoked the disgraced comedy legend and TV star’s honorary degree.

That hasn’t stopped Cosby from wearing his Gamecocks gear.

During a rare public appearance Sunday, the 85-year-old Cosby was seen in New York City wearing a sweatshirt with “South Carolina” in block letters above the university’s Gamecock inside of a “C” logo.

Paparazzi got photos of Cosby, who also had a medical mask and cane, getting out of a vehicle in Manhattan, Metro reported.

Cosby hasn’t been seen much since being released from a Pennsylvania prison in 2021, after that state’s Supreme Court overturned his conviction on three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Convicted and released

In April 2018, a jury found Cosby guilty on the charges that he drugged and sexually violated a woman in his Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, home in 2004, NPR reported. This is the only conviction against Cosby, but at least 60 women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct or rape, the Washington Post reported.

Two months after Cosby was convicted, the USC Board of Trustees unanimously voted to rescind Cosby’s honorary degree that was bestowed on May 17, 1986.

“The criminal acts of which Bill Cosby has been convicted are repugnant,” John C. von Lehe Jr., board chairman, wrote in a statement in 2018. “The University of South Carolina does not tolerate sexual assault and we condemn his behavior in the harshest sense. Let our message to the Carolina family be clear: sexual assault is never the survivor’s fault and will not be tolerated at the University of South Carolina.”

That marked the first time that USC revoked an honorary degree, according to the university.

An honorary degree is “the highest honor the University of South Carolina can bestow,” and recipients do not have to be alumni, faculty or otherwise associated with the university, according to the university’s policies, The State reported in 2018.

USC was not the only college to distance itself from Cosby. Also in 2018, South Carolina’s Claflin University Board of Trustees voted to rescind the honorary doctoral degree it gave to Cosby.

Reaction on social media

Cosby’s recent appearance in the USC sweatshirt has not gone unnoticed by Gamecock supporters and rivals.

A person identified on Twitter as Carolina Man wrote, “Don’t like how bill cosby has a gamecock shirt.” That elicited a response from a poster identified as RoosterPrime, saying “Photoshop job.”

One poster on Twitter, who has a photo of Clemson’s tiger mascot as a profile picture, wrote, “Gamecock fans are the best in CFB!” while attaching a collage of images that included Cosby and convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh.

This prompted a flurry of responses, including one with an older photo of Cosby wearing sweatshirt that said “Clemson Football.”

Still another poster with a Clemson football player as a profile picture, named Clemson Addict, wrote “Bro tell me this is edited,” with a emoji of a laughing face.

Another poster, with a photo of a Tennessee Volunteers football player as a profile picture, wrote, “Bill Cosby wearing a usc jr. (east) sweatshirt might just be my super bowl.”

A poster identified as Charlie, whose profile picture is the same Gamecock logo on the sweatshirt Cosby was wearing, wrote, “I know that picture will be used against us somehow though.”