'BILL COSBY INNOCENT!!!' Kanye West unleashes furious backlash after tweeting support for comedian who is accused of sexually assaulting more than 50 women

He's the king of drumming up controversy when it counts the most, and Kanye West was it again this week, declaring that 'Bill Cosby is innocent' just two days out from the release of his new album.

However the curious tweet - put up on Tuesday night as part of a series of questionable posts - may just work against the 38-year-old rapper.

Within an hour, the tweet - 'BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!' - received 23,000 likes and over 21,000 re-tweets, however many of the responses slammed West as inappropriate and ill-founded. 

Leading the charge against the singer was comedian Sarah Silverman, who wrote online: 'Kanye!! You can't be for real. FIFTY WOMEN. With nothing to gain thanks to a statute of limitations ON RAPE. Oy.'

Kanye West once again ignited a twitter controversy on Tuesday by posting this message about Bill Cosby

'You can't be for real': Leading the charge against the rapper's announcement is comedian Sarah Silverman, who called out West for what many have slammed as inappropriate given the charges Cosby is now facing

Hitting back: Silverman was quick to respond to West's tweet, calling him out and standing up for Cosby's alleged victims 

Not happy: Some fans even called for Kanye to shut down his Twitter account completely 

Scores of people quickly supported Silverman and tweeted similar responses at West.

West, who is slated to release his new album on Thursday and set to perform on Saturday Night Live this weekend, also lashed out at his competitor Puma earlier in the day, over reports they were set to ink a new deal with sister-in-law Kylie Jenner.

One month ago, West mentioned Cosby in a song he released at New Years called Facts.

'Do anybody feel bad for Bill Cosby?' he rapped in the song.

'Did he forget the names just like Steve Harvey?'

West's tweet on Tuesday may have been in reaction to a defamation case filed against Cosby's lawyer that was dismissed on Tuesday.

The claim was brought by model Janice Dickinson against Cosby's lawyer Martin Singer, who publicly denied her allegations that the comedian had drugged and raped her in 1982. 

However, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Debre Katz Weintraub did not dismiss defamation allegations made against Cosby in the same lawsuit. 

In court: Bill Cosby, accompanied by his attorneys Brian McMonagle, left, and Monique Pressley, arrives at court to face a felony charge of aggravated indecent assault, in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania 

Janice Dickinson arrives at the Los Angeles Superior court for a hearing regarding her defamation case against Bill Cosby on February 9, 2016

Weintraub ruled that Dickinson cannot sue attorney Martin Singer because his denial of her allegations was known to her at the time she sued Cosby in May. 

Dickinson's lawyers later amended her lawsuit to add the defamation allegations against Singer.

'We are very pleased with the ruling,' Singer's attorney Andrew Brettler said. 'We believe the court got it right.'

Also on Tuesday, Cosby's lawyers asked that a separate defamation lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts be put on hold while he defends himself in a criminal case in Pennsylvania, where he is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

Kanye West was spotted arriving to a NYC recording studio at 1am Wednesday morning after leaving his clothing studio in Soho with wife Kim

Kim Kardashian and North West were spotted leaving Kanye West's Album Release party in NYC on Tuesday

In the Massachusetts case, seven women allege that Cosby defamed them when his representatives branded them as liars after they went public with allegations he sexually assaulted them decades ago. Cosby has denied their allegations and has filed a countersuit against them.

Dickinson has said Cosby drugged and raped her in Lake Tahoe, California, in 1982. 

She never reported the rape to authorities and has said she was afraid if she did that her career would be damaged and Cosby would retaliate.

The statute of limitations has passed on suing for rape or other allegations directly related to the incident.

Dickinson is one of dozens of women who have accused Cosby of sexual abuse dating back to the 1960s.

'The primary focus of the case has always been against Bill Cosby and it remains against Bill Cosby,' Dickinson's lawyer Lisa Bloom said after the hearing. 

Plenty of Kanye West fans were not pleased with the stance he took on Cosby. 

'Kanye please don't do this,' one fan pleaded with him.

Another fan responded: 'it is getting progressively harder to continue loving you like I do when you are continually so dense.'

One fan even asked West to deactivate his twitter account.