NEW YORK // NBC has scrapped a Bill Cosby comedy that was under development and TV Land will stop airing reruns of The Cosby Show, moves that came a day after another woman came forward claiming that the once-beloved comedian had sexually assaulted her.
NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks said on Wednesday the Cosby sitcom "is no longer under development". TV Land said the reruns will stop airing immediately for an indefinite time. The Cosby Show was to have been part of a Thanksgiving sitcom marathon.
The NBC sitcom and The Cosby Show reruns were part of a Netflix Cosby standup comedy special, which has been indefinitely postponed amid mounting evidence of Cosby's faltering career.
They came after model Janice Dickinson, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, became the third woman in recent weeks to allege she had been sexually assaulted by Cosby — charges strongly denied by the comedian's lawyer.
Dickinson said Cosby had given her red wine and a pill when they were together in a Lake Tahoe, California, hotel room in 1982. When she woke up the next morning, “I wasn’t wearing my pyjamas and I remembered before I passed out I had been sexually assaulted by this man.”
Cosby’s lawyer, Martin Singer, said that Dickinson’s charges were “false and outlandish” and were contradicted by Dickinson herself in a published autobiography. The actor’s spokesman, David Brokaw, did not return calls for comment.
Mr Singer said the first Cosby heard of any assault allegation from Dickinson came in the Entertainment Tonight interview, and suggested the actress was "seeking publicity to bolster her fading career".
The developments, which involve allegations that were widely reported a decade ago as well as new accusations, have gravely damaged the 77-year-old comedian’s reputation as America’s TV dad at a time when he was launching a comeback.
A year ago, a standup special which was his first in 30 years, aired on Comedy Central and drew a hefty audience of 2 million viewers. NBC announced his prospective new series in January.
Cosby has never been charged in connection with any of the allegations. Former Pennsylvania prosecutor Bruce L Castor Jr, who investigated a woman’s claims that Cosby had sexually assaulted her in 2004, said he decided not to prosecute because he felt there was not enough evidence to get a conviction.
“I wrote my opinion in such a way as I thought conveyed to the whole world that I thought he had done it, he had just gotten away with it because of a lack of evidence,” the former Montgomery County district attorney said.
If Cosby had not been cooperative with the investigation, “I probably would have arrested him,” Mr Castor said.
Cosby was asked about the growing furore on November 6 when he was promoting an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art featuring his African-American art collection alongside African artworks.
When asked about the long-circulated accusations and recent criticism from comedian Hannibal Buress, he responded: “We don’t answer that.”
As the interview was winding down — but with the camera was still running and Cosby wearing a lapel microphone — the comedian asked the journalist not use the brief on-camera refusal to comment and said, “I would appreciate it if it was scuttled.”
Since then, two women have come forward publicly to accuse him of sexual assault.
Netflix, TV Land and NBC subsequently cut ties and an appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman” was cancelled.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art has not changed its plans for the show, which opened this month on the National Mall and is scheduled to remain on view through early 2016.
“The exhibition has been very well received. We’ve actually had record numbers through the door,” spokesman Eddie Burke said, adding the museum has had no complaints.
The NBC project was in the very early stages, without a script or commitment to production. But it would have brought Cosby back to the network where he had reigned in the 1980s with the top-rated “The Cosby Show”.
There’s some precedent for a network burying a project because of stories involving a star’s personal life. NBC shelved a two-hour TV movie, “Frogmen, starring OJ Simpson in 1994 after the former football star was implicated in his wife’s death.
Cosby has continued working as a stand-up comedian, and has at least 35 performances scheduled throughout the US and Canada through May 2015. None of the performances has yet been cancelled.
National Artists Corporation, which is promoting part of the tour, said it will not be cancelling any shows.
* Associated Press
