NBC Made ‘30 Rock’ Writers Tone Down 2009 Cosby Rape Joke

By Meghan O'Keefe @megsokay
Published Feb. 19, 2016, 3:15 p.m. ET

A little over a year ago, any sort of attack on Bill Cosby‘s character was met with either incredulity or anger. He was Dr. Huxtable, the Jello man, and a comedy legend; there was no way he could have drugged and sexually assaulted dozens of women. But in October 2014, comic Hannibal Buress made a quip on stage about the rumors that went viral online. Soon, pop culture pundits and comedy nerds were uncovering sly jokes on the matter that Tina Fey had snuck in on both 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live.

It turns out all of these callouts were completely connected. During an interview to promote the upcoming Tina Fey film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the comic’s long-time producing partner Robert Carlock confirmed that Fey has indeed been on an anti-Cosby crusade for years. Uproxx‘s Mike Ryan directly asked Carlock about the 30 Rock jokes, and whether or not they were intentional or not. Carlock affirmed, and noted they had pressure from above to pull back:

“If you go back to ‘Weekend Update,’ Tina [Fey] has been grinding that ax for a long time. That was not an accident. From my memory, the joke was more overt. And because he had not been found guilty of anything – and still hasn’t – we had to reword it to be a little more obtuse. I think ever since the Today show appearance by one of the women, there’s a run or a joke she did on “Update” years ago. And Hannibal Buress was one of our writers – and he took it to the next level.”

So, there you have it! Tina Fey has indeed been trying to expose Cosby’s indiscretions for years. It seems that Fey and Carlock would have preferred to go in even harder, but were chastened by NBC.

Earlier today, Netflix announced that season two of Fey and Carlock’s latest sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt will return for season two on April 15. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot hits theaters on March 4. The damning Bill Cosby joke appears on the 30 Rock episode entitled “The Bubble,” which you can stream on Netflix by clicking here.