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| FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2013 file photo, actor-comedian Bill Cosby poses for a portrait in New York. NBC announced Wednesday, Nov. 19, that it has canceled plans for a family comedy starring Bill Cosby. |
NEW YORK (AP)
-- 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
comic had sexually assaulted her.
NBC
spokeswoman Rebecca Marks said Wednesday the Cosby sitcom "is no longer
under development."
A TV Land spokesperson said the shows will stop
airing immediately for an indefinite time. "The Cosby Show" also was to
have been part of a Thanksgiving sitcom marathon.
The
NBC sitcom and "Cosby Show" reruns joined a Netflix Cosby standup
comedy special, which was indefinitely postponed late Tuesday, as
mounting evidence of Cosby's faltering career. They occurred a day after
actress Janice Dickinson, in an interview with "Entertainment Tonight,"
became the third woman in recent weeks to allege she'd been assaulted
by Cosby - charges strongly denied by the comedian's lawyer.
The
developments, which involve allegations that were widely reported on 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 - his first in 30
years - aired on Comedy Central and drew a hefty audience of 2 million
viewers. His prospective new series was announced by NBC 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
Wednesday 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 hadn't been cooperative with the investigation, "I probably would have arrested him," he said.
Cosby
has continued working as a stand-up comic, and has at least 35
performances scheduled throughout the U.S. and Canada through May 2015.
None of the performances has been cancelled.
National Artists Corporation, which is promoting part of the tour, said it will not be canceling any shows.
The
Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art has not changed its plans
for an exhibition featuring Cosby's African-American art collection
alongside African artworks. The show 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.
Cosby was asked about the growing furor by an AP reporter when he was promoting the exhibit earlier this month.
When
the AP interviewed Cosby, on Nov. 6, the story involved long-circulated
accusations from several women and recent criticism from comedian
Hannibal Buress. Cosby declined to comment, saying "We don't answer
that."
The AP mentioned the allegations and
Cosby's decision not to comment at the end of its story, which, like the
interview, was primarily about his loan of more than 50 artworks to the
Washington museum.
Since then, two women have
come forward publicly to accuse him of sexual assault, Netflix, TV Land
and NBC cut ties and an appearance on "The Late Show With David
Letterman" was canceled. In recent days, as the allegations gained
increasing attention, AP went back through the full video of the Nov. 6
interview and decided to publish Cosby's full reaction to questions
about the claims.
The AP was among a handful
of news organizations granted interviews with Cosby in connection with
the art exhibition. After his initial refusal to comment - as the
interview was winding down but with the camera still running and Cosby
wearing a lapel microphone - the comedian asked the AP to not use the
brief on-camera refusal to comment he had just made about the
allegations. "And I would appreciate it if it was scuttled," he said.
The
interview was on the record. The AP had made no agreement to avoid
questions about the allegations or to withhold publishing any of his
comments at any time.
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 O.J. Simpson in 1994 after the former football star
was implicated in his wife's death.
Dickinson
told "Entertainment Tonight" that 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 pajamas
and I remembered before I passed out I had been sexually assaulted by
this man."
Cosby's lawyer, Martin Singer, said
in a letter to the AP that Dickinson's charges were "false and
outlandish" and were contradicted by Dickinson herself in a published
autobiography. Cosby's spokesman, David Brokaw, did not return calls for
comment.
Singer said the first Cosby heard of
any assault allegation came in the "Entertainment Tonight" interview,
and suggested Dickinson was "seeking publicity to bolster her fading
career."
