While The New York Times has broken the expected story about Louis C.K.‘s sexual misconduct, the rumors have circulated for years. Gawker first hinted at the stories about Louis C.K.’s behavior in 2012 with the piece, “Which Beloved Comedian Likes to Force Female Comics to Watch Him Jerk Off?”. This was followed up a few years later by Defamer, who further detailed allegations against the comedian.
Now, The New York Times has five women on the record and sharing their stories about their experiences with Louis C.K. The pattern is familiar between the victims, as they allege that Louis C.K. either asked or proceeded to masturbate in front of them without their consent.
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“He leaned close to my face and said, ‘Can I ask you something?’ I said, ‘Yes,’” comedian Rebecca Corry told The New York Times. “He asked if we could go to my dressing room so he could masturbate in front of me.”
When Corry declined, Louis C.K.’s “….face got red, and he told me he had issues.” However, with others Louis C.K. went further, and all of his victims were traumatized by the encounter. Some even saw their careers suffer when they spoke out.
Louis C.K. shocked comedy duo Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov in 2002 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado when he invited them to his hotel room, and masturbated in front of them. The pair quickly fled, and immediately told others about what happened, however, they “could already feel the backlash.” The word reached Louis C.K.’s manager Dave Becker, who was displeased the women were telling people what had happened, and while he denies any threats were made against their career, the duo knew “immediately that we can never even submit our material” for projects he was involved with. And as one of the biggest managers in the comedy field — counting Kevin Hart and Aziz Ansari among his clients — that meant many gigs were off limits.
Many around Louis C.K. are starting to distance themselves, including Tig Notaro, who received a major career boost when she released her comedy album about her battle with cancer, and produced the Amazon series “One Mississippi.”
“Sadly, I’ve come to learn that Louis C.K.’s victims are not only real, but many are actual friends of mine within the comedy community,” Notaro said a statement, adding that she supports the victims, and in hindsight, questions Louis C.K.’s actual motivations for supporting her work, wondering if he did so to cast himself in a positive light.
Louis C.K. has long refused to address the allegations that have followed him, and that isn’t changing for now, with his publicist Lewis Kay releasing the following statement: “Louis is not going to answer any questions.”
Louis C.K. has seemingly admitted some culpability, reaching out to apologize to some of his victims years later. Adding another dimension to these revelations are that the fact that his standup act and his new film “I Love You, Daddy” both feature elements that eerily echo the allegations that are coming to light.
The New York City premiere of “I Love You, Daddy” was canceled in anticipation of these allegations, and there’s no word yet if the November 17th release of the movie will continue as planned. In a statement to THR, distributor The Orchard said, “we are giving careful consideration to the timing and release of the film and continuing to review the situation.”