Keshia Knight Pulliam gets fired from ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ for not calling Bill Cosby

The actress, who played the lovable Rudy Huxtable on ‘The Cosby Show,’ decided against calling her former TV dad to ask for money in a charity challenge and was the first to get the boot in season seven. ‘This show was taped just before the terrible Bill Cosby revelations came to light,’ Donald Trump tweeted.

“I have not talked to Bill Cosby on the phone in I don’t know how long,” the 35-year-old actress said on “The Celebrity Apprentice” season seven premiere Sunday night.

Well-known as Rudy Huxtable, the youngest child on “The Cosby Show,” Pulliam was questioned by Donald Trump as to why she didn’t reach out to the comedian for a charity challenge on the Jan. 4 episode, which was recorded prior to the recent sexual assault allegations brought against him.
Keshia Knight Pulliam starred on ‘The Cosby Show’ from 1984-1992. Keshia Knight Pulliam starred on ‘The Cosby Show’ from 1984-1992.

“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,” she explained to Trump.

But the 68-year-old businessman still blamed her — the project manager — for the loss of her team, which included Kate Gosselin, Vivica A. Fox, Shawn Johnson, Brandi Glanville, Kenya Moore and Leeza Gibbons.

Having previously insisted that her time on the hit ’80s sitcom taught her “the importance of philanthropy and giving back to others,” Trump didn’t buy her excuse for not calling Cosby.

“You didn’t make one call that I really believe that if you’d called that gentleman he would have helped you, even if you hadn’t spoken to him in years,” he said.

“You were an amazing team with one of the most successful shows ever, so I think it would have been a good call to make for charity,” Trump added. “You have to take responsibility.”