Despite Fallout, Bill Cosby's Plans To Perform In Westchester Still Stand
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – While television companies have cut ties to Bill Cosby over sex assault allegations, his scheduled shows in Westchester are still on.
Cosby is booked at the 130-year-old Tarrytown Music Hall for Saturday night, December 6.
The show was scheduled long before the current flare-up of decades-old sexual assault allegations and the cancelling of his TV comeback, CBS2's Lou Young reported.
The executive director of the Tarrytown Music Hall, however, told CBS2 cancelling the show next month wouldn't really hurt Cosby financially since the comedian will get paid regardless if he performs or not because of his contract.
Ticket holders have asked for refunds for the nearly sold-out shows, but the musical hall's executive director said they can't afford to give them or turn Cosby away. Instead, they have offered to create an open seat protest list and give it to the comedian after the show, Young reported.
People in the town are of two minds about the appearance.
"I don't like that he's coming. I think it's sending a really bad message. It's sending a message that no matter what you do in life, it's not accountable, but it is accountable," Scarsdale resident Stacy Balkind said.
"I think you got to give him the benefit of the doubt right now until the case is proven, you know? People do nasty things to celebrities right now," Simon Smith, of Tarrytown, said.
A string of women now claim Cosby assaulted them years ago and the comic icon has refused to discuss details of his 2006 lawsuit settlement with an accuser.
Model and TV host Janice Dickinson added her name to the women who have accused the comic of sexual assault — accusations Cosby's attorney calls a lie. In an "Entertainment Tonight" interview that aired Tuesday, Dickinson said that the 1982 incident occurred in Lake Tahoe, California, where he was performing.
Earlier this month, in a joint interview with his wife Camille, he tried to steer an Associated Press reporter away from the subject.
As CBS2′s Jessica Schneider reported Wednesday, when asked about the subject in the Associated Press interview recorded on Nov. 6, Cosby said, "No, no, we don't answer that," and, "There is no comment about that."
Later, he pleaded with the interviewer not even to show the "no comment" response.
"And can I get something from you, that none of that will be shown?" he says in the video.
Earlier Wednesday, NBC is following in Netflix's footsteps and is shelving plans to develop a new sitcom with Cosby.
CBS2 showed the interview to body language expert Dinah Day.
"He's so focused on what he doesn't want to hear and what he doesn't want to respond to and it comes across in his face and his whole affect if you will," Day said.
There has been so much fallout that the cable channel TV Land even stopped showing re-runs of his old shows.
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