NBC on Wednesday said it has canceled an upcoming project with veteran comedian Bill Cosby, his second show to be pulled after accusations that he sexually assaulted women resurfaced in recent weeks.
The move by NBC comes a day after online streaming company Netflix said it was postponing Cosby’s stand-up comedy special Bill Cosby 77, which was due to be released on Friday next week.
Cosby’s lawyers have called the allegations of sexual assault “discredited” and “defamatory.”
Cosby’s representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the NBC and Netflix cancelations.
The damage to Cosby’s career reached the reruns of The Cosby Show, a top-rate NBC comedy in which he played his most famous role as the affable patriarch, Cliff Huxtable.
A spokeswoman for Viacom’s basic cable channel TV Land said the show is being pulled from its schedule.
The 77-year-old Cosby is fighting to protect one of the most storied careers in stand-up comedy and television. He is scheduled to go ahead with a performance today at a sold-out show in Florida, the King Center for the Performing Arts said on its Web site on Wednesday.
Comcast Corp-owned NBC said in a statement that “the Cosby project is no longer in development,” while declining to comment further.
The project was still in its early stages, with no script delivered and no production date secured.
Allegations that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted several young women decades ago gained renewed attention after comedian Hannibal Buress called him a rapist during a stand-up comedy routine last month.
Neither NBC nor Netflix referred to the accusations in their statements.
In a previously unaired Associated Press television interview released on Wednesday, Cosby declined to comment about Buress’ allegations. It was the first time the comedian has had any response to questions other than silence.
“I don’t talk about it,” he said in the Nov. 6 interview, flanked by his wife, Camille.
After the interview and while cameras were still rolling, Cosby asked that his response not be used.
“I would appreciate it if it was scuttled,” he said.
Late on Tuesday, model Janice Dickinson became the most high-profile accuser against Cosby, telling Entertainment Tonight she believed she had been sexually assaulted by Cosby in 1982.
In a letter to reporters, Cosby’s lawyer Martin Singer called Dickinson’s claims “fabricated.”
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