Ticket sales on pace for Cosby show at Packard

Staff /wire report

WARREN

Tickets went on sale Friday for Bill Cosby’s March 13 show at Packard Music Hall, but it’s too soon to tell if the allegations of sexual abuse against the comedy icon will have an effect on sales.

As of Friday afternoon, a few hundred tickets had been sold in the 2,400-seat auditorium for the show. That’s normal for a show that is on the other side of winter, said an official with the hall.

“Sales are trending similar to any show that is on sale four or five months in advance,” said Kelsey Rupert, spokesperson for JAC Management, which manages the auditorium.

“It’s difficult to gauge the effects that the allegations are currently having on the show, but we are monitoring everything very closely.”

Meanwhile, Cosby’s shows at casinos in Las Vegas and Arizona were canceled Friday as more women came forward alleging he sexually assaulted them many years ago.

Officials at the Treasure Island hotel-casino on the Las Vegas strip said they’ve mutually agreed with the comedian to cancel his Nov. 28 performance.

No reason was given by the Diamond Desert casino in Tucson, Ariz., for canceling his Feb. 15 show.

Cosby, 77, still apparently planned to bring his comedy routine to a sold-out theater in Melbourne, Fla., Friday night, and at least 34 other shows remain on his schedule through May 2015, including the Warren performance.

Some of Cosby’s shows are promoted by Carlos M. Larraz, who heads the National Artists Corp. Larraz did not immediately return calls and emails Friday.

The allegations from a growing number of women have prompted the cancellation of interviews and much-anticipated projects on NBC and Netflix, and reruns of “The Cosby Show” have been pulled off the air.

Cosby’s representative issued a statement Sunday dismissing the decades-old accusations, and his attorney specifically denied allegations raised by four of the women.

Cosby made no mention of the controversy Thursday night at a benefit show for a women’s service organization in the Bahamas.