NBC Facing Pressure To Cancel Bill Cosby's New Show As Another Rape Accuser Emerges

Bill Cosby might be on the verge of losing an upcoming television series on NBC, as another woman has come forward to accuse him of sexual assault.

Joan Tarshis detailed the assault in a conversation with CNN's Don Lemon. It allegedly happened in 1969 when she was 19-years old.

According to Tarshis, she was a young actress who was invited up to Bill's bungalow. She says he fixed her a drink and she passed out. She woke up to find him removing her panties. She prevented him from having vaginal sex with her by telling him she had an infection and he would give it to his wife.

"I thought I was very clever in saying that, but he was more clever," Tarshis told Lemon. "And instead he made me have oral sex with him, which really was horrible. To me it was much, much worse than if he raped me the normal way.”

Barbara Bowman

Tarshis is the second woman to appear on CNN in the last week to talk about being drugged and raped by Cosby. Bowman says he raped her between the ages of 17-19, starting in 1985.

An old stand-up comedy bit has resurfaced in which Bill jokes about drugging women.

NBC is scheduled to air a new television series in 2015. There's talk the network could be having second thoughts. 

“It's a classic ensemble family comedy,” NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke had described the planned show to reporters in July via the New York Daily News. “Bill Cosby plays the patriarch dispensing his usual wisdom and advice. He has three daughters and a lot of grandchildren.”

“As I understand it NBC was just in the early development stages ... they can kind of just make it go away,” Prof. Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Bleier Center of Television & Popular Culture. told the New York Daily News. “NBC would have been in a really tough position if this show was in the rotation for the spring and if they already had episodes in the can.”

Is Bill's legacy on the verge of being irreparably damaged?

Cosby refuses to respond to rape claims