Louis C.K., the popular comedian, filmmaker, and actor, is the latest show business figure to be accused of sexual misconduct, and in this case by several female comedians. The news comes from a New York Times exposé wherein five women have come forward and accused C.K. of masturbating, or asking to masturbate, in front of them.
Published today, the report cites instances that go as far back as the late 90’s, usually with C.K. approaching female comedians and asking if he could masturbate in front of them. One such case took place in 2002 when comedians, Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov, were performing at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. Late in the evening, C.K. invited them up to his hotel room for drinks, and as soon as the women sat down in his room he asked them if he could take out his penis. They started laughing, but still, he got naked and began masturbating in front of them.
The report also brings up similar incidents, like from comedian Abby Schachner, who recalls hearing C.K. masturbating while she was on the phone with him in 2003. Then there’s Rebecca Corry, who said that in 2005 C.K. asked if he could masturbate in front of her while they were on the set of a TV pilot in 2005. When Corry denied him she said his “face got red” and he told her that he “had issues.”
A source who wished to remain anonymous also claims C.K. repeatedly asked to masturbate in front of her when the two were working on THE CHRIS ROCK SHOW in the late 90’s. A co-worker from the show said he remembers the woman telling him about the incident right after it happened.
Allegations against C.K. are nothing new as reports of his behavior have been circulating around the comedy world for years. Comedians like Jen Kirkman have spoken about hearing stories in the past, and Roseanne Barr spoke with the Daily Beast saying, “I can’t tell you—I’ve heard so many stories.” She would go on to say this applies not only to C.K. but to other male comedians as well.
The most outspoken voice when it comes to C.K. has been comedian Tig Nataro, whom C.K. has released albums for in the past and is credited as an executive producer on her show, ONE MISSISSIPPI (though Nataro has said he has nothing to do with the show). Nataro has distanced herself from C.K., saying to NYT that she’s “come to learn that C.K.’s victims are not only real, but many are actual friends of mine in the comedy community.”
C.K. has been put into hot water over these allegations in the past, such as in 2015 when the now-defunct Defamer got ahold of some emails that detailed a man calling out C.K. for his actions. When asked about if he wanted to speak to the matter while talking with Vulture, he said, “I don’t care about that. That’s nothing to me. That’s not real.” He then followed up saying, “You can’t touch stuff like that. There’s one more thing I want to say about this, and it’s important: If you need your public profile to be all positive, you’re sick in the head. I do the work I do, and what happens next I can’t look after. So my thing is that I try to speak to the work whenever I can. Just to the work and not to my life.”
The NYT report also notes that in 2009, C.K. made contact with Schachner and apologized for his actions (an apology she accepted), and then did the same in 2015 to Corry not long before the Defamer piece broke. However, Corry said C.K. seemed to have “misremembered” the incident, as he apologized for pushing her into the bathroom, dropping the hint there were more incidents that have not come to light.
As rumors and allegations of misconduct against C.K. have circulated over the years, attention has been drawn to his stand-up material, which has occasionally found him miming masturbation, doing bits about being tortured by sexual thoughts and perversions. He even addressed masturbation on his show, LOUIE, wherein he debates an anti-masturbation Evangelical on Fox News.
So far, C.K.’s publicist, Lewis Kay, has said, “Louis is not going to answer any questions." The fallout is beginning to happen already, as the New York premiere for C.K.’s new movie, I LOVE YOU, DADDY has been canceled, as a well as an appearance on THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT.