Criticism of one of television’s most beloved stars, Bill Cosby, is escalating with renewed attention to allegations that he sexually assaulted women in several incidents decades ago.
The latest evidence is the cancellation of a planned appearance by Cosby, scheduled for Wednesday, on David letterman’s late-night show on CBS. The show declined to say on Friday whether Cosby withdrew from the appearance or the show made the decision to replace him. “We can’t comment on the booking process,” a spokeswoman for the show, Kim Izzo-Emmet, said. But Regis Philbin, who has always been letterman’s go-to guest in case of a late cancellation, is now listed on the show’s website as the main guest that night. The news of the letterman cancellation was first published by Newsday.
The move follows by a few weeks the cancellation by Cosby of a guest appearance on the Queen latifah daytime talk show. In that case, the show reported that the change was made at Cosby’s request.