Entertainer Bill Cosby during a news conference on November 6. Cosby’s attorney said Sunday, November 16 that Cosby will not dignify
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Pressure mounted Wednesday on veteran US comedian Bill Cosby over long-standing sexual assault allegations, as NBC pulled the plug on a new sitcom after Netflix postponed a planned special.
The double setback came after a lawyer for the 77-year-old Cosby dismissed the claims of a string of attacks made by several women as “decade-old, discredited allegations.”
“We can confirm that the Cosby project is no longer in development,” NBC said in a statement, declining any further comment on the accusations dogging the award-winning entertainer.
That came 12 hours after streaming video service Netflix said it was postponing the launch of a new stand-up comedy special, to be called “Bill Cosby 77.”
People magazine said the Netflix special was supposed to be a birthday celebration for Cosby, in which he would share stories from his childhood, first romantic relationships and parenthood.
But the allegations of rape and sexual abuse made against him by several women in recent weeks are tarnishing the public image of the urbane actor, famous for his long TV career — especially his role as a doting father on the popular “Cosby Show” in the 1980s and 1990s.
Former model Janice Dickinson, now 59, on Tuesday added her claims to the list, telling Entertainment Tonight that Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1982.
Dickinson said it happened after a dinner they shared in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where she said she had gone to talk about a job offer from Cosby. At the dinner she said she had red wine and a pill Cosby gave her because she had menstrual and stomach pains.
“The next morning I woke up, and I wasn’t wearing my pajamas, and I remember before I passed out that I had been sexually assaulted by this man,” Dickinson said.
In other recent charges made public, a woman claimed in an editorial Sunday that she was drugged and raped by Cosby in 1969.
So far, Cosby himself has remained silent on the issue.
Cosby only shook his head Saturday when asked if he wanted to address the allegations during an interview on US National Public Radio has only intensified the attention focused on him.
