Bill Cosby's 'Late Show' Appearance Canceled as Rape Allegations Resurface

The 'Cosby Show' actor, who was initially booked as a guest for a Wednesday episode of 'Late Show with David Letterman', is no longer scheduled to appear on the show.

Bill Cosby has grabbed the headlines lately as past rape allegations against him resurface and it's not good for his professional image. Following the negative press, the actor's scheduled appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman" has been canceled. 

The veteran comedian was supposed to visit the CBS late-night talk show as a guest on Wednesday, November 19, but his booking has been dropped. It's unclear if Cosby withdrew from the appearance or the show decided to replace him. "We can't comment on the booking process," a spokeswoman for the show, Kim Izzo-Emmet, says. 

Cosby has since been replaced by Regis Philbin on the list of next week's guests. 

Two weeks ago, Cosby's scheduled appearance on "The Queen Latifah Show" was canceled, but the show insisted that the interview was just postponed. "Mr. Cosby's scheduled appearance on 'The Queen Latifah Show' was postponed at his request and was in no way related to any of our recent or upcoming scheduled guests," said a spokesperson. 

Rape allegations against Bill Cosby that were made decades ago have been brought into attention again after comedian Hannibal Buress called Cosby a rapist during a performance in Philadelphia. "Thirteen? It's even worse because Bill Cosby has the f***in' smuggest old black man persona that I hate. He gets on TV, 'Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the 80s! I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom!' Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches," Buress said onstage earlier this month. 

Barbara Bowman, who claimed she was sexually assaulted multiple times by the star of "The Cosby Show", wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post, asking, "Why wasn't I believed?" when her story first came out years ago and why the case only gained attention after stand-up comedian Hannibal Buress mentioned it onstage. 

"Why didn't I get the same reaction of shock and revulsion when I originally reported it?" she wrote. "Why was I, a victim of sexual assault, further wronged by victim blaming when I came forward? The women victimized by Bill Cosby have been talking about his crimes for more than a decade. Why didn't our stories go viral?"