Bill Cosby has told how he was applauded by "murderers, rapists, bank robbers" and "wife beaters" as he left jail.
The convicted sex offender, 84, was filmed by his publicist and crisis manager Andrew Wyatt talking about being freed from prison a year ago.
A video of their conversation was shared on the pair's Instagram accounts on Thursday (June 30), and showed them chatting as Wyatt drove Cosby home.
The clip, believed to have been shot by Wyatt a year ago, showed Cosby describing the moment he was told he was to be a "free man".
He said: "I was in the bed, in the cot, when they opened the door because it's one o'clock and about four or five guys yelling, 'Bill, get up. You're going home'."
Cosby added he mistakenly thought he was being called to have a wash, and he "put my shower shoes on the wrong feet".
The guards apparently corrected him by saying: "No, no, no, you don't understand, you're free."
Cosby added in the video, which shows him talking while slumped in the front seat of Wyatt's car: "I said what is it? Juneteenth? But, man, when I left... murderers, rapists, bank robbers, wife beaters [were] all clapping."
The pair also celebrated how Cosby would no longer be labelled a "violent sex offender".
Cosby was released from prison on June 30, 2021, after his charges were dropped by a Supreme Court due to an "unfair trial".
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court overturned Cosby's sex assault conviction after finding that there had been a "process violation", after he had served more than two years of a three-to-10-year sentence.
Women's rights activists reacted with fury, with attorney Lisa Bloom tweeting in March this year: "More than 60 women, including my clients, accused him of rape. He is NOT exonerated. (sic)"
A year ago I broke down why Bill Cosby won his appeal: because an inexplicably friendly prosecutor blew the case.
— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) March 7, 2022
Today the Supreme Court decided not to hear it, allowing Cosby to remain free.
More than 60 women, including my clients, accused him of rape.
He is NOT exonerated. https://t.co/FcSUGrN9i7
Her message came the same month the US Supreme Court declined to review the Pennsylvania decision.
Wyatt refers to the comic as "Dr Cosby" and tells him in the video posted on Thursday he is "great" and "iconic".
Cosby is also heard saying the media made a "lot of money" on the back of his scandal.
He later told Wyatt he needed to "go in the house and rest" as his "heart was just happy".
Cosby's Instagram account carried a picture of him on Thursday wearing a yellow shirt and boasting he would be celebrating one year of freedom, days after a court ordered him to pay US$500,000 (S$696,000) to Judy Huth, 62, another woman he allegedly assaulted.
ALSO READ: Bill Cosby found liable in civil case for sexual assault on teen in 1975
