The Smithsonian says it's leaving Bill Cosby's art collection on display

The Smithsonian says it has no plans to take down an exhibit featuring art on loan from Bill Cosby.

"First and fundamentally, this is an art exhibit," Richard Kurin, the Smithsonian's undersecretary for art, history, and culture, told The Associated Press. "So it's not about the life and career of Bill Cosby. It's about the artists." Since dozens of women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, some critics have felt that the museum should remove the pieces Bill and his wife, Camille, loaned to Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art's 50th anniversary exhibit. About one-third of the show is on loan from the couple, including paintings by former slaves, and there are also photos and quotes of Cosby around the exhibit. "We certainly don't condone his behavior," Kurin said. "We're just as deeply disturbed and disappointed as I think everybody else."

Other critics argue that a private collection shouldn't be on display in a prestigious museum because it can raise the market value of pieces, and Camille Cosby is on the museum's board and was the one to bring up the collaboration. It also came out that the Cosbys gave a gift of $716,000, which covers nearly the entire cost of the exhibit, AP reports. Industry guidelines say that museums need to announce when an art lender funds an exhibit, but in Cosby's case, this wasn't shared in any press materials.

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