Justice is finally served to Bill Cosby

The beloved Bill Cosby is gone. The guy who sold us Jello Pudding Pops is a prisoner.

Cliff Huxtable is spending the night in prison.

Get used to it, Mr. Cosby. It will be the first of many. Three to 10 years, to be exact.

Bill Cosby, the once beloved comedian who sat at the top of the entertainment world as “America’s Dad” on the No. 1-rated TV show that bore his name, left a Montgomery County courtroom Tuesday in handcuffs.

Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his Main Line mansion back in 2004.

It was the culmination of a storm of similar allegations that rained down on the popular entertainer from no less than 60 women, all of whom told similar tales of being drugged and assaulted by a man decades older who they trusted, who they saw as a mentor and who they went to for advice.

What they got, a Montgomery County jury decided, was a crime. At least in the case of Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee whose story formed the crux of the case against Cosby, and reverberated in the echoes of all those other claims by women where the statute of limitations had long since lapsed.

What Cosby got was justice, the knowledge that no one, regardless of how popular or powerful, is above the law.

Cosby, who is legally blind and now needs the use of a cane, removed his suit jacket, tie and watch and handed them to aides before he was handcuffed and led off to prison.

“It is time for justice,” Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill told the one-time superstar entertainer. “Mr. Cosby, this has all circled back to you. The time has come.”

A last-minute request from Cosby’s lawyers that he be allowed to remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction was rebuffed. Instead, O’Neill ordered Cosby be locked up immediately. He was led out of the courthouse in handcuffs, arriving at the Montgomery County Corrections Facility before eventually joining the inmate population in state prison, the recently opened SCI-Phoenix, which replaced the crumbling old Graterford Prison.

For Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, it was the end of an equally long, perilous journey. Steele faced accusations that he used the Cosby case to score political points in his run for office against a foe, Bruce Castor, who had declined to bring charges against Cosby and signed off on a deal that appeared to offer Cosby the safety of never being criminally charged.

Cosby’s first trial on the charges ended with a hung jury. His conviction was the first major court case after the explosion of the #MeToo movement that toppled any number of high-profile, powerful men accused of assault, harassment or inappropriate behavior

After Cosby was led away, Steele talked about the journey.

“For decades, the defendant has been able to hide his true self and hide his crimes using his fame and fortune,” Steele said at a press conference. “He’s hidden behind a character he created, Cliff Huxtable.

“But now, finally, Bill Cosby has been unmasked, and we have seen the real man as he is headed off to prison.

Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt did not mince words after his boss was sent packing to the slammer, railing that Cosby was subjected to the “most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States.” His specifically targeted three psychologists who testified against Cosby, saying they were “white women who make money off of accusing black men of being sexual predators.”

Such is the depth that Team Cosby sunk to in trying to hold him up as the real victim in this case.

There are scores of women who will tell you otherwise.

They will tell you Cosby was not done in by race, or by privilege. He was done in by his own ego, and the belief that he could rely on his smiling countenance and beloved status to turn public sentiment against his accusers.

Before being sent off to prison, Cosby was slapped with the label of being a “sexually violent predator.” If he ever leaves prison, he will have to register with the state and be subject to monthly counseling, as well as a requirement that neighbors and schools be notified of his whereabouts.

The beloved Bill Cosby is gone. The guy who sold us Jello Pudding Pops and regaled us with his “Fat Albert” cartoon character is a prisoner.

Cliff Huxtable woke up Wednesday morning as inmate NN7687. Justice was served.