Bill Cosby's name was mentioned in the boardroom on the season premiere of "The Celebrity Apprentice 2015," in which Cosby's former co-star Keshia Knight Pulliam was eliminated.
Known for her "The Cosby Show" role Rudy Huxtable, Pulliam had to face Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Piers Morgan in the boardroom as she was the project manager for the team that lost to Geraldo Rivera's in a bake sale task.
The older Trump asked Pulliam if she called Cosby to help her team raise some money. Pulliam admitted that she did not as she has not talked to Cosby on the phone for a long time.
"For me, to pick up the phone, having not talked to you for five years, except for when we run into each other for a Cosby event, I feel that's not my place to do," Pulliam explained.
On the other hand, Trump disagreed and told Pulliam, "You have this tremendous guy with this tremendous amount of money. And with one phone call you could have won this whole event."
Trump decided to fire Pulliam from the show over reality star Kate Gosselin and Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson who she brought with her in the boardroom.
The current 14th season of Trump's reality show on NBC is the seventh season to feature celebrity contestants. Its season premiere that aired on Jan. 4 was taped in early 2014, according to USA Today.
This was long before Cosby was involved in a series of drugging and sexual assault allegations from several women, which include former supermodels Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson as well as Carla Ferrigno, the wife of "The Celebrity Apprentice" alum Lou Ferrigno.
In a recent interview with Yahoo TV, Trump said the cast of the "The Celebrity Apprentice 2015" is "just absolutely brutal" as the celebrity apprentices really do not like each other, which he said will benefit ratings.
Meanwhile, protests are planned for Cosby's upcoming shows in Ontario, Canada from Jan. 7 to 9, Chicago Tribune has learned.
