New setback for Cosby as Vegas show canceled

LOS ANGELES, USA – Embattled US comic Bill Cosby suffered a new setback Friday as a live performance in Las Vegas was canceled, just days after the plug was pulled on two TV projects. 

The Treasure Island casino in the Nevada gambling hub scratched a show next weekend by the comic, a spokeswoman said. 

Another planned stand-up performance set for next month in Arizona was also canceled, according to local media.

The actor, known for playing a doting father on the popular Cosby Show in the 1980s and 1990s, has come under fire in recent weeks over allegations of rape and sexual abuse dating back several decades, made by several women.

Cosby, who has refused to personally address the claims, was expected to go ahead with a show later Friday in Florida, but his next show after that, in Vegas next Friday, has been called off.

“By mutual agreement, Mr. Cosby’s show… at Treasure Island is cancelled,” Michelle Knoll, a spokeswoman for the casino, told AFP. She gave no further explanation. 

The Arizona Republic reported that a show at the Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson scheduled for February 15 had been canceled, as had one in New Jersey, it said.

A spokesman for the Tucson casino did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

On Wednesday, the US network NBC pulled the plug on a new Cosby sitcom, a day after streaming video service Netflix canceled a planned special, piling pressure on the veteran comic.

On Thursday, a video emerged of Cosby declining to comment in a TV interview with the Associated Press, and trying to insist that it not air his ‘no comment’. 

Cosby lawyer John Schmitt told entertainment news website The Wrap at the weekend: “Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr Cosby have resurfaced.”

“The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment,” he added.

The storm engulfing Cosby erupted last month when comedian Hannibal Buress branded him a “rapist” during a stand-up show in Philadelphia – a clip that went viral.

A number of women have since come forward with accusations that Cosby sexually assaulted them, including TV personality Janice Dickinson. Most recently, Carla Ferrigno, the wife of actor Lou Ferrigno, Angela Leslie, and Louisa Moritz came forward to say that Cosby assaulted them in the past, in various ways. – Rappler.com