NBC walks away from Bill Cosby comedy project in midst of allegations

Ever since most of the rape allegations against Bill Cosby resurfaced over the past couple of weeks, the status of his NBC comedy project, which was still very early in development, was relatively unclear.

However, now things seem to be a little more firmly set in stone. According to Vulture, the call has gone out now to studio Sony Pictures TV that all work should stop on the show for the network, and that they are going in a different direction. This is ultimately no surprise. Regardless of whether or not you find Cosby to be guilty or not of what he is being accused of by multiple people, it is still a publicity nightmare that NBC wants no part of. If the show was to be picked up, the entire campaign would just be filled with questions about his past, and if NBC is doing the right thing by supporting someone with these sort of accusations. This would become even more problematic when you consider that they are a network that airs “Law & Order: SVU,” which is a show that has spawned all sorts of social causes about domestic violence prevention.

In the wake of the allegations, which seemed at first to resurface following a Hannibal Buruss comedy routine, Cosby’s upcoming comedy special for Netflix was also postponed. At the moment, we would not be surprised if it is eventually just canceled outright to avoid even more negative publicity.

The only official denials that Cosby has issued have come from those close to him; he has refused to answer any questions outright, and was silent during a recent NPR interview when questioned about his past.

Update: Netflix has decided to cancel the special.

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