Bill Cosby interview: He expects to serve full 10-year sentence rather than say 'sorry'

Maria Puente | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Cosby jailed: Appeal looming, lawsuits pending Bill Cosby's legal team is readying a long-shot bid to get his sexual assault conviction overturned. They're also fighting civil lawsuits filed by some accusers that threaten to drain his vast fortune. (Sept. 27)

Corrections & clarifications: An earlier version of this report incorrectly characterized the contents of journalist Stacy Brown’s audio recording and Brown’s relationship with Bill Cosby. In the audio excerpt Brown says: “You’ve got a lot of supporters out here. We did a story recently about your supporters.”

In his first prison interview, Bill Cosby spoke to an African American-oriented news site in a rambling lecture in which he claimed to be educating fellow prisoners, railed against the ruin of his TV legacy, and vowed to serve his full 10-year sentence for sex-crime convictions rather than show remorse for crimes he says he didn't commit.

Cosby spoke to Stacy Brown, a correspondent for National Newspaper Publishers Association’s BlackPressUSA.com, by phone Sunday for an exclusive interview, according to Andrew Wyatt, Cosby's spokesman since his two trials, in 2017 and 2018.

Brown's story included a 15-minute audio of part of the interview, which lasted 45 minutes and came about after Cosby called Wyatt to talk on Sunday. The audio was hard to hear and was frequently interrupted by prison announcements and the prison rule against phone calls lasting more than 15 minutes. Cosby had to call back several times to complete the interview.

Cosby is serving three-to-10 years maximum in a state prison in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, after a jury in Montgomery County last year convicted him of drugging and sexually assaulting a Temple University employee in 2004.

Cosby has appealed his conviction, citing multiple alleged "errors" by the trial judge in his case; the appeal is pending before the state appeals court.

Although it was not part of the audio, according to Brown's story, Cosby, 82 and near blind, said he thinks it's unlikely he'll be released early. Wyatt, who was on the call, confirmed that's what Cosby told Brown.

“I have eight years and nine months left,” Cosby said, according to Brown and Wyatt. “When I come up for parole, they’re not going to hear me say that I have remorse."

Consequently, Brown wrote, Cosby anticipates serving his entire sentence because he will never admit to something he claims he didn’t do. "Displayed remorse is generally a required prerequisite to obtaining parole or a shortened sentence," Brown reported.

Cosby has been denying his guilt since his two trials. He now considers himself a "political prisoner." He told Brown his trials were unjust and unfair.

In the audio, Cosby also stood by his infamous 2004 "pound cake" speech in which he criticized African Americans for behaviors he disapproves of. But he said he should not have suggested his criticisms applied to all African Americans.

“The mistake I made (in 2004) is making it sound like all the people were making the infractions, and that’s not true," he is heard saying in the audio.

That speech earned him disdain in the black community, which in turn led to the deluge of sexual misconduct allegations that helped bring him down starting in the fall of 2014.

Cosby, who has a doctorate in education, said he is continuing his "mission" as an educator by speaking at weekly "Mann Up" prison sessions with fellow prisoners about striving for self-respect and dignity and putting family first.

“I’m not a psychiatrist, and I’m not a psychologist. I’m an educator, and what I look forward to is talking to this group of 400 or so men," Cosby is heard saying in the audio.

After the allegations against him began mounting, reruns of Cosby's successful TV shows mostly disappeared from TV screens. He believes this is "proof" that people in power conspired to take away anything positive from the black community.

“When ‘The Cosby Show’ came on with the Huxtables … while it was running, other networks and even the media were doing jobs on trying to belittle whatever it represented,” Cosby said.

“They did not like what ‘The Cosby Show’ looked like for us. … Now, look at what has happened. They’ve taken everything that I’ve done and swept it into a place where it would not be shown."

Contributing: The Associated Press