It's possible that you elected to skip last week's millionth (or seventh) season premiere of Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice.
So I'll break it down for you. It stars real celebrities this year!
Sig Hansen! Who? Some fisherman from Deadliest Catch.
Jamie Anderson! Who? Some gold-medalist snowboarder.
And Bill Cosby! That actor from all those Cosby show reruns on TV Land ... before they were pulled off the air ... after a flurry of allegations that Cosby drugged, sexually assaulted or raped women.
So maybe Cosby isn't actually in the cast of Celebrity Apprentice, but his name got more camera time in last week's debut episode than Kevin Jonas (who? Some Jonas brother).
Keshia Knight Pulliam -- best known as little Rudy on the Cosby Show (before she got older and less cute and they added little Olivia, played by Raven-Symone) -- is a Celebrity Apprentice participant. As project manager, she was tasked with leading the women's team in a pie-selling competition.
During fundraising efforts, filmed before the recent allegations, the conversation turned to Cosby, whom Keshia purposefully did not call.
Keshia explained her decision, weakly: "I haven't reached out to him. I was trying to reach people who are currently in the city."
But, but, why wouldn't little Rudy want to talk to her TV Dad and ask for cash? Afraid he'd say no, like when Theo wanted that expensive Gordon Gartrelle shirt?
Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moore wanted to know too, telling the cameras: "So let's talk about the elephant in the room. Keshia was a Cosby kid. She was on one of the No. 1 shows of all time."
And then she added this now cringe-worthy line: "And the first person she should be calling is Bill Cosby because I know he has deep pockets."
Keshia would have to explain herself again, this time to Trump in the boardroom when her team lost the challenge.
"I have not talked to Bill Cosby on the phone in ... I don't know how long," she said, flustered. "So 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 like that's not my place to do."
But Trump, who referred to Cosby as a "gentleman," wasn't having it: "Doesn't Kenya bring up a good point that you have this tremendous guy with a tremendous amount of money and with one phone call you could have won the whole task very easily?"
So Keshia was fired. All because she didn't call wealthy Bill Cosby to help her advance.
Awkward.
Again, this episode was filmed before we knew there might be another side to Cosby. (Then again, he was accused of such behavior in 2006 in a civil lawsuit settled out of court.)
Donald Trump tweeted: "This show was taped just before the terrible Bill Cosby revelations came to light. She still should have asked him for money -- goes to charity."
This raises two questions. Why was Keshia so unwilling to call Cosby? And why didn't Trump, who had plenty of time to do so, edit the show so it wasn't so uncomfortable?
Keshia, interviewed on the Today show, said, "I know The Cosby Show is in reruns, and everyone thinks that we're this family that has dinner every Friday night. But the reality was I hadn't spoken to Mr. Cosby. I felt that it would be tactless, very rude to call someone and be like, 'Hey, so, let me have some money right now.'"
And she had this to say about the allegations: "That's just not the man I know. So I can't speak to it."
Back to Trump, why wouldn't he cut all that problematic Cosby stuff? Because it keeps people talking about him.
It's the same reason he won't cut his problematic hair.
You're fired if you don't email:
jchristman@arkansasonline.com
Style on 01/11/2015