Bill Cosby has maintained his innocence in a phone call from prison, saying his trial was a "set up"
The disgraced comedian, who in 2018 was sent to jail for sex offences, recently spoke to the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Newswire.
The 82-year-old told the newswire he was innocent and said he would never admit to something he didn't do.
"It's all a setup," he said in the phone call, of which a recorded portion was posted online."That whole jury thing. They were imposters."
Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison after a jury found him guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assaults. That decision came after a first trial ended in a hung jury. The conviction came after more than 60 women accused him of a variety of sexual assault-related crimes.
During the phone call, Cosby said he would not express remorse for his crimes.
"I have eight years and nine months left," Cosby said. "When I come up for parole, they're not going to hear me say that I have remorse. I was there. I don't care what group of people come along and talk about this when they weren't there. They don't know."
According to Black Press USA, Cosby's spokesperson Andrew Wyatt was also on the call.
Cosby said he was in prison for "political" reasons.
"I know what they've done to my people," Cosby said. "But my people are going to view me and say, 'that boy looks good. That boy is strong.' I have too many heroes that I've sat with. Too many heroes whom I listened to like John Henrik Clarke, Kenneth Clark, and Dorothy Height. Those people are very strong, and they saw the rejection of their people. This is political. I can see the whole thing."
The former Cosby Show star also spoke about how he was working to encourage and empower other prisoners through a prison reform programme called Mann Up.
Cosby was a regular featured speaker in the programme, Black Press USA reported.
NNPA also spoke to other prisoners incarcerated with Cosby, some of whom called him a "political prisoner".
"Every Tuesday, Mr Cosby and I sit down and talk before the other residents come in and he explains to me what moves I need to make so that Mann Up can be a success," said prisoner Anthony Sutton.
"He says to always remember to work as a team. We are all in this life together and Mr Cosby is a political prisoner and he tells us that we’ve got to save our babies. We can’t be out there killing our children and our women."
Another prisoner called Cosby a "powerful man...a legend".
