It has been a devastating day for business in the life of comedic legend Bill Cosby. In the last several days he has watched as several old rape claims against him have been met in the media by a new rash of claims from women who have now gone on the record to tell their own alleged personal accounts of suffering at his hands.
At first, Cosby's attorney simply denied that his client had done anything wrong and then insisted these old claims were baseless. But by late last night things shifted when the self-proclaimed world's first supermodel, Janice Dickinson, said Cosby had raped her back in 1982. Cosby's attorney came out swinging, but it was too late to save two new projects he has been working on.
First, Netflix announced that it is shelving a special show Cosby had already filmed for it. It was scheduled to begin streaming next week and it is now on hold. If Cosby somehow pulls out of this scandal with his career at all intact, then there is a chance Netflix will show his special. Unfortunately, that is not going to be the case for Cosby's other deal.
NBC was working on a new Cosby project that would have been executive produced by The Cosby Show's Tom Werner. In it, Cosby was supposed to star as Jonathan Franklin, head of a multigenerational family, who would use his humor and life experience to guide his daughters, sons-in-law and grandkids. It kind of sounded like an updated spin on the formula that worked so well 25 years ago. Unfortunately, it will never see the light of day because NBC has killed it completely.
Deciding to pull the plug on this project was huge for NBC because if it does not actually make it to a pilot, then according to the deal the network has to cut Cosby a pretty big check. So financially, he will probably win this one either way, but his name at least for right now is in ruins.
What are your thoughts about the slew of allegations lining up against Cosby? Is he guilty? Comment below.
