“The Celebrity Apprentice” premiere took a strange turn on Sunday night when actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, who served as project manager on the first challenge of the season, was eliminated by host Donald Trump after she didn’t use her connections with Bill Cosby to raise money for her team.
The subplot was a very significant part of the episode, as Pulliam (most famous for starring as Cosby’s daughter Rudy on NBC’s “The Cosby Show”) was taken to task for not calling Cosby and asking the very wealthy comedian for a charitable donation to her team. But hearing Cosby brought up so many times was extremely jarring and managed to overshadow the episode, considering that Cosby’s name has been in the news lately in a negative light, as more than two dozen women have alleged they were sexually assaulted by him over the years.
Another fact to note: NBC delayed this season of “Celebrity Apprentice” for awhile, so the premiere was taped about a year ago, way before the disturbing allegations went mainstream and Cosby’s downfall began. But that makes the episode even more bizarre. Given the amount of time the network and producers had to edit, why would they keep Cosby’s name as such an integral part of the storyline — especially when NBC is one of the many places to distance itself from Cosby, dropping his upcoming TV project less than two months ago? No one thought it might seem odd to viewers?
It all started when Pulliam was named the project manager for her team (this season divided the celebrities into women versus men). The first task of the season in New York City involved the teams baking pies to raise the most money for charity. Since it was a fundraising challenge, all the celebs got to work calling up their most famous friends to donate. Almost immediately, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Kenya Moore got on Pulliam’s case about calling Cosby.