Call for boycotting Bill Cosby show in Canada amid assault allegations against the comedian

TORONTO – Bill Cosby’s three shows in Canada in January are still on the calendar, but there is a call to boycott his performance in London, Ont.

“To have him appear in public is inconsistent with the values of London,” said Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre, who issued the call following renewed accusations that the comedian drugged and sexually assaulted more than a dozen women over several decades.

“We need to stand on the side of women who have the courage to come forward, instead of Mr. Cosby,” Walker said. “Very clearly from what we’ve heard, he isn’t Cliff Huxtable.”

Cosby denies wrongdoing and has not been criminally charged.

As controversy has grown, Cosby’s scheduled Netflix concert special was cancelled and NBC scrapped a new Cosby sitcom in development. Meanwhile, the 77-year-old star has lost nine of some three dozen concert dates extending until next May.

All three of his shows in Canada are proceeding despite the allegations.

Cosby is scheduled to appear at the Centre in the Square in Kitchener, Ont., on Jan. 7, and at the Budweiser Gardens in London on Jan. 8.

Scott Warren, the general manager of Hamilton Place Theatre in Hamilton, Ont., where Cosby is scheduled to perform on Jan. 9, said the theatre is bound by a contract with the promoter and would risk being sued if the show were cancelled.

Walker is hoping Cosby will cancel the London show himself and said that if the show does go on, a protest will be staged outside the venue.

Messages left with the promoter, Chicago-based Innovation Arts & Entertainment, were not immediately returned.