Cosby Again Asked About Claims, Responds Differently

The Hollywood Reporter calls it "uncomfortable footage." And how. The AP yesterday released video shot during a Nov. 6 interview with Bill Cosby and wife Camille about artwork they loaned to the Smithsonian. Historically, and in a recent NPR interview, Cosby has remained silent if the interviewer asks questions about the rape allegations against him; that was not the case here. His comments to the AP reporter, who asked him about the allegations several times: "No, no. We don't answer that. There is no response. There is no comment about that, and I'll tell you why. I think you were told, I don't want to compromise your integrity, but I don't talk about it." As the interview wrapped up, Cosby then asked the reporter to "scuttle" the exchange.

"We thought, by the way, because it was AP, that it wouldn't be necessary to go over that [i.e., specifying the topic was off-limits] ... we thought the AP had the integrity to not ask." Cosby then says to someone off-camera, "I think you need to get on the phone with his person immediately," pointing at the reporter. More:

• TV Land will stop airing reruns of The Cosby Show, immediately and for an indefinite time. The AP notes The Cosby Show had been slated to run as part of a Thanksgiving sitcom marathon.
• What hasn't been canceled, per the Hollywood Reporter: the comedian's stand-up tour. He's scheduled to appear at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas today.
• BuzzFeed reported the claims Janice Dickinson made on Tuesday, and got a roughly two-page letter from Martin Singer, Cosby's new attorney, in response. He uses the words "false," "falsity," "fabricated," "fabrication," "lie," and "lying" 19 times to describe Dickinson's allegations, and closes with this: "You proceed at your peril."
• Raven-Symoné (the Cosby Show's Olivia) is speaking up—and asking to be left out of it all. Her Instagram post: "I was NOT taking advantage of by Mr. Cosby when I was on the Cosby Show! I was practically a baby on that show and this is truly a disgusting rumor that I want no part of! Everyone on that show treated me with nothing but kindness. Now keep me out of this!"

(More Bill Cosby stories.)