Updated Wed., Nov. 19, 4:15 p.m. EST: Bill Cosby’s downward spiral continues as NBC announces that it has canceled its plans to develop a new comedy starring the famous TV dad, the New York Times reports.
According to the report, the television broadcasting company did not say why it suddenly scrapped the anticipated project, but it doesn’t escape notice that the decision comes in the wake of Netflix’s own choice to postpone Cosby’s stand-up-comedy special, a mere day after new allegations of sexual assault emerged to haunt the 77-year-old comedian.
Despite the current backlash, Cosby still has a few live appeareances for stand-up scheduled over the next few days, according to NBC News, including a sold-out performance at the Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne, Fla., on Friday, which will not be changed, King Center management said in a statement.
“Mr. Cosby is a well-respected member of the entertainment community and one of America’s most beloved performers. While we are aware of the allegations reported in the press, we are only in a position to judge him based on his career as an entertainer and humanitarian," the statement read, according to NBC.
A Thanksgiving-weekend show by the embattled comedian at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas is also still on the schedule. Of the Nov. 28 show, a representative for the venue told NBC, “All of his shows here have been sellouts; we have no reason to think that this one won’t be, too. However, if anyone wants to return his or her tickets, he or she is welcome to, just as is our policy with all of our shows.”
Earlier:
The fallout has increased for Bill Cosby in the wake of new and renewed allegations of assault.
Netflix announced late Tuesday that it will postpone the 77-year-old comedian’s stand-up comedy special that was due to be released on Thanksgiving Day, the Associated Press reports.
Although the video-streaming site didn’t offer specifics about why the debut of Bill Cosby: 77 was put off, the company’s statement came shortly after an Entertainment Tonight interview with Janice Dickinson, in which the model and TV host accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her in 1982 after a dinner meeting in California.
Dickinson told Entertainment Tonight that she wrote about the assault in her 2002 autobiography No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World’s First Supermodel, but said that Cosby and his lawyers pressured her and the publisher to take out the details.
She is only the latest to add her voice to the increasing number of accusations against Cosby.
According to AP, Cosby’s publicist David Brokaw wrote in an email that his client agreed with Netflix’s actions, but did not comment further or offer any insight as to Dickinson’s allegations.
Netflix, for its part, did not release a new debut date for the comedy special.
So far, Cosby has not directly addressed the accusations, and he refused to answer questions in an NPR interview that aired Saturday. His lawyer released a statement on Sunday blasting the “decade-old discredited allegations” against his client.
Neither Cosby nor his attorney has made any additional comment this week, even as more allegations have surfaced.
Read more at Yahoo News and the New York Times.