Entertainment
Netflix Postpones Launch of Cosby Comedy Special
In this Nov. 6, 2014 file photo, entertainer Bill Cosby pauses during a news conference. Cosby’s attorney said Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014 that Cosby will not dignify “decade-old, discredited” claims of sexual abuse with a response, the first reaction from the comedian to an increasing uproar over allegations that he sexually assaulted several women in the past. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Netflix said it is postponing Bill Cosby’s upcoming standup comedy special, a decision that followed a growing number of allegations that the famed entertainer sexually assaulted women.
In a brief statement late Tuesday, the company said the scheduled Nov. 27 premiere of the special, “Bill Cosby 77,” was being postponed but did not address why or when it might debut. The company had no further comment, a spokeswoman said.
The move came within hours of an interview that “Entertainment Tonight” aired with Janice Dickinson, in which the model and TV host alleged that Cosby sexually assaulted her after a 1982 hotel dinner meeting in Lake Tahoe, California.
Cosby agrees with the Netflix action, his publicist, David Brokaw, said in an email Tuesday. He did not elaborate, and there was no immediate comment regarding Dickinson’s allegations.
It’s the first indication that Cosby, who had enjoyed a robust comedy concert schedule and has been in talks with NBC for a new sitcom, may be seeing serious fallout from a dark chapter that appeared to be behind him.
There had been only two TV talk show appearances affected. He postponed an interview on Queen Latifah’s daytime talk show and confirmed that he would not be making a scheduled appearance on “Late Show with David Letterman.”
NBC has not commented in recent months on the status of the sitcom that would feature the African-American TV groundbreaker (with “The Cosby Show”) as a family patriarch.
Cosby, who was never criminally charged in any case, settled a civil suit in 2006 with another woman over an alleged incident two years before.
But in recent weeks a fellow comic, Hannibal Buress, called Cosby a “rapist” during a Philadelphia performance. Two other women emerged as accusers, including Barbara Bowman, who wrote an online Washington Post piece.
Cosby has remained silent, and his attorney, John P. Schmitt, issued a statement Sunday saying his client would not dignify “decade-old, discredited” claims of sexual abuse with a response. Schmitt later exempted the 2006 civil case from the blanket statement.
Dickinson told the TV newsmagazine that she wrote about the assault in her 2002 autobiography, “No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World’s First Supermodel,” but that Cosby and his lawyers pressured her and the publisher to remove the details.
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