On CBS yesterday morning, Willie Brown, San Francisco's 41st mayor and author of the autobiography Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times , reportedly came to the defense of his embattled friend Bill Cosby. Cosby, whom Brown most recently celebrated with at Pier 44 on the occasion of Brown's 80th birthday, has been repeatedly accused of sexual abuses including drugging and raping women.

The news comes to us by way of a tweet from San Francisco Chronicle pop culture critic Peter Hartlaub who tuned into the CBS broadcast with Carla Marinucci and Phil Matier yesterday at 8 a.m. The segment and a transcript don't appear to yet be online.

A tweet from Carla Marinucci confirms that the broadcast, and Brown's defense of Cosby, were planned.

Brown's sentiments echo the ones he expressed in his Chronicle column this weekend:

Now [Cosby's] reputation has been destroyed by rape accusations lodged by more than a dozen women, most of whom stayed silent until long after any witnesses could be questioned, stories checked, evidence gathered. One says Cosby assaulted her 49 years ago.

If they’re lying, Cosby has no hope of clearing his name. He can’t establish an alibi for what he was doing on a given night in 1965 or 1969 or 1992. He can’t summon corroborating witnesses or provide a contemporaneous account of any of his actions.

Cosby’s life and everything he’s ever stood for has been ruined by allegations that he’ll never have a chance to dispel.

Maybe in a court of law, he would have been convicted. We’ll never know. What we do know is that in the court of social media, he’s already been sentenced.

That is a horrible place to be in America.

All coverage of Willie Brown on SFist.
Previous coverage of Bill Cosby.