Bill Cosby’s Twitter Account Tweets Father’s Day Message, Fans Go Off

Social media had no mercy for Bill Cosby, whose official Twitter and Instagram accounts used two of his most significant roles to share a Father’s Day message on Sunday.

“Hey, Hey, Hey…It’s America’s Dad…I know it’s late, but to all of the Dads… It’s an honor to be called a Father, so let’s make today a renewed oath to fulfilling our purpose —strengthening our families and communities,” the account wrote, referencing Fat Albert and Cosby Show patriarch Cliff Huxtable.

Alongside the Father’s Day message was an old video of Cosby discussing “breaking up the black man’s family” in the context of racism and slavery.

Despite the message, Twitter users were not sympathetic with the comedian, who was sentenced to three to 10 years for the sexual assault of Andrea Constant last year.

Plenty of Twitter users took to the replies to slam Cosby for the insensitive message.

The post was shared on Cosby’s behalf by his spokesman Andrew Wyatt, Wyatt explained to USA TODAY, in order to express support for the group Man Up.

“Mr. Cosby’s (message) consisted of telling these men who have been incarcerated for many years, but are up for parole soon … to … take the word ‘disadvantage’ and remove the ‘dis’ and start focusing on the advantage,” Wyatt said. “That advantage is to be better fathers and productive citizens.”

The tweet came a few months after Cosby used social media to share birthday wishes for wife Camille back in March and a few months after he called himself a “political prisoner” like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cosby has reportedly not seen his wife or their three surviving daughters (son Ennis was killed in 1997, while daughter Ensa died of renal disease in 2018) since he entered prison, Wyatt said.

Some Twitter users drew comparisons between Cosby’s and O.J. Simpson’s Twitter presences; the latter made headlines after joining the social media platform last week.