Andrea Constand, one of the dozens of women who accused comedian Bill Cosby of rape, said in an interview with NBC that it felt “disgusting” to see Cosby walk free after his conviction was overturned.
NBC senior national correspondent Kate Snow asked Constand how she felt seeing Cosby walk free in June.
“Disgusting,” she replied in an interview set to air Tuesday on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. “Didn’t surprise me given the level of … arrogance and having no remorse during the time he was incarcerated, absolutely zero remorse for what he did to me.”
A Pennsylvania appeals court overturned his rape conviction on procedural grounds, with Cosby having been promised by former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor that he would never be charged if he agreed to testify in the civil suit brought forth by Constand.
Constand questioned how such an agreement could be honored, asking, “How can you give any credibility to that?”
Snow asked if seeing Cosby’s conviction overturned made Constand regret coming forward publicly with her accusations.
“I’ve come way too far to go back to that place, to wonder whether it’s all worth it or to have regrets,” Constand said. “It was worth it. But it was worth it because I didn’t feel alone. I had a whole community, a whole army of women and other survivors, strangers, family, friends, who were right there with me.
“Bill Cosby walks free, but it doesn’t change the fact that my testimony was believed,” she added.
Constand accused Cosby of drugging her and sexually assaulting her in 2004 while at his home in Philadelphia. They initially met while Constand was a basketball coach at Temple University, Cosby’s alma mater.
According to Snow, Constand said that she has forgiven Cosby for his actions, though she understands that the more than 60 other accusers will feel differently.
In an August interview with The New York Times released on Tuesday, Constand said hearing about Cosby’s release made her “sick.”
“I really felt they were setting a predator loose and that made me sick,” she told the newspaper.
Constand told the Times that she worried this development would discourage other women who have been assaulted from coming forward.
“It was the message that it would send to the rest of the world and other survivors, to say, why should I fight for justice, when it ultimately gets stripped down. It won’t matter,” she said.
Constand has written a memoir, titled “The Moment,” which details what she has done to recover from the assault. It was published by Penguin Random House this week.
–Updated 5:42 p.m.