Criticisms Cited in the Pulling of Cosby Talk

CBS decided to cancel a “60 Minutes” piece on Bill Cosby this weekend because of concern that the network appeared to be exploiting the tragedy surrounding the slaying of his son, the president of the news division said Friday.

After Cosby gave CBS news anchor Dan Rather an exclusive interview last Sunday, the first since his son, Ennis, was fatally shot in Los Angeles Jan. 16, the network aired portions of it on Monday’s “CBS This Morning” and the “CBS Evening News,” then planned to air an 11- to 12-minute piece on Sunday’s “60 Minutes.” In the interview, Cosby talked about the slaying and revealed that he had had an extramarital affair more than 20 years ago.

“After our initial reports on CBS, this thing became a media-feeding frenzy, with tabloid newspapers and TV shows picking up the most sensational aspects of the story,” CBS News President Andrew Heyward said. “I don’t think we did anything wrong in the way we released the news and promoted the story on Monday. But in the atmosphere that developed, we were sensitive to criticisms that we were holding off airing the rest of the conversation until ’60 Minutes’ just to boost ratings.”

So he and Don Hewitt, executive producer of the high-rated newsmagazine, decided Thursday night to spike the “60 Minutes” piece.

“Everybody and his brother was running parts of the interview, including pirated versions on ‘Hard Copy,’ ” Hewitt said. “When we looked at the footage again, Mike Wallace said to me, ‘Is there really anything new here?’ I didn’t think that there was. None of us could disagree much with people who said this story was being exploited.”

Heyward said that he knew from conversations with CBS Entertainment President Leslie Moonves that Cosby, who stars in the network’s comedy series “Cosby,” was unhappy with the way the story played out in the media. But he said that he had had no contact with Cosby or his representatives and had not been asked by CBS management to pull the piece.

“I had heard from talking to Les that Bill Cosby was in pain over being raked over the coals,” Heyward said. “But, without sounding callous about it, that’s not why we pulled the piece. I never heard a whisper [from CBS executives] about killing the story. Peter Lund [the president of CBS] made it clear from the start that CBS News would make all the decisions about the story.”

Sources said that Norman Brokaw, Cosby’s agent and the chairman of the William Morris Agency, had made a call earlier in the week to Hewitt but that Hewitt had referred him to CBS management.

David Brokaw, Cosby’s spokesman, declined to comment Friday.

“The original plan,” Heyward said, “was to get out the most important news of the story on Monday and then come back on Sunday with an interview that included Cosby’s thoughts on young people and the country. Given how it played out, that may not have been a good call.”

Meanwhile, Cosby was at work Friday, taping his first “Cosby” episode before a live audience since his son was slain. About 250 people waited in line to get into the Queens studios where the sitcom is produced. Their mood was casual and joking; several people interviewed explained that they had obtained their tickets well before the slaying and were attending simply because they were Cosby fans, not because they felt a need to express support or sympathy for the entertainer.

Cosby was scheduled to perform his stand-up comedy act twice today in West Palm Beach, Fla. But the entertainer, who has turned down other interview requests, has opted not to keep a tentatively scheduled date to appear later this month on “Late Show With David Letterman.” The appearance was scheduled before the slaying, though Cosby was said to have initially indicated to the producers he would still do the show.

Times staff writer Brian Lowry and researcher Lisa Meyer contributed to this story.