Bill Cosby gives Obama benefit of doubt on Harvard prof arrest

Harvard professor Henry Gates couldn't have received more support when President Obama used a prime time press conference last night to weigh in on his controversial arrest.

Prefacing his remarks by saying he didn't have all the facts, Obama went on to condemn the arrest, saying that the "Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home."

Obama's words on the controversy surprised some observers, since presidents usually refrain from weighing in on local law-enforcement matters.

Actor/comedian Bill Cosby told a Boston TV station this morning that people who weren't at the scene of the arrest should use caution in coming to conclusions about what happened.

"People who have not been there, people who don't know are beginning to have their own personal feelings, but they weren't there," Cosby said.

"Does this include the president," asked the FOX25 reporter?

"It includes everybody," Cosby said. "[But] I would have to take into consideration that he lived in Cambridge for some time so he may know more than he's saying about situations of that sort," Cosby said.

Cosby also advised that the arresting police officer and professor Gates spend some time together to solve the issue. "This, racially need not take off and look and feel the way it's beginning to look and feel," he said.

UPDATE

Cosby wasn't as supportive however in another interview.  “If I’m the president of the United States, I don’t care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I’m keeping my mouth shut," Cosby told a Boston radio station.

To read more about this interview, click here.

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