“I know there were meetings scheduled between Cosby’s team and Lester Holt. Every time we scheduled, Holt kept canceling and this kept happening,” the family source said. “Finally, we were told NBC had forbidden Lester Holt to meet with or have dinner with Bill Cosby.”
Messages seeking comment from NBC News and MSNBC president Phil Griffin were not returned.
Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting former Temple University athlete Andrea Constand, then 31, in his home in 2004. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. He denies the charges.
The star has been accused by up to 60 women of drugging and sexually assaulting them.
He is now an outcast, even among high-profile crisis management teams.
“Everyone says any affiliation is too toxic,” the family source said of two crisis firms that jumped ship despite seven-figure agreements. “Money exchanged hands, then the excuses came.”
The only celebrity name to appear on Cosby’s approximately 20-person witness list is Diahann Carroll, the 81-year-old Bronx actress and Golden Globes winner who appeared on “The New Bill Cosby Show” in the 1970s. Her reps did not return messages.
