‘Stories are true’: Comedian Louis CK confirms sexual misconduct

After five women came forward to allege that comedian Louis C.K. masturbated in front of them, C.K. issued a statement affirming those accusations and admitted that the “stories are true.” NPR shared a portion of a statement released by C.K.’s publicist, where the comedian expressed his remorse and said that he used the power he had over these women “irresponsibly.” The women that came forward against C.K. are also comics.

“At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them.”

When two of the female comics, Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov, first heard C.K. ask them if he could masturbate in front of them, they thought he was joking – until he actually started to pleasure himself in their presence.  The incident took place in 2002 following their performances at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado.  After the show, C.K. invited the two ladies back to his hotel room. According to The New York Times:

As soon as they sat down in his room, still wrapped in their winter jackets and hats, Louis C.K. asked if he could take out his penis, the women said.

They thought it was a joke and laughed it off. “And then he really did it,” Ms. Goodman said in an interview with The New York Times. “He proceeded to take all of his clothes off, and get completely naked, and started masturbating.”

NPR shared that another of C.K.’s accusers, Rebecca Corry, declined C.K.’s invitation to watch him masturbate.  Corry retweeted a tweet by comedy writer Katie Rich who posted “If a woman wants to see your penis she will tell you.”

The fallout to C.K.’s sexual misconduct accusations and his statement confirming those accusations has been swift.  Vanity Fair reported that FX Networks and FX Productions have ended their associations and have severed all ties with C.K.  In that statement, FX said, “He will no longer serve as executive producer or receive compensation on any of the four shows we were producing with him—Better Things, Baskets, One Mississippi and The Cops.” Vanity Fair also reported that C.K. was also been dropped by his management company and his publicist.  Netflix announced that the streaming platform has dropped plans for a future C.K. stand-up special.

A film that C.K. directed and financed, “I Love You, Daddy” which was scheduled for a November 17 release has now been scrapped.  Following the scandal surrounding C.K., the film’s distributor dropped the release, according to The New Yorker.  C.K.’s statement confirming his sexual misconduct behavior, reads in full:

“I want to address the stories told to the New York Times by five women named Abby, Rebecca, Dana, Julia who felt able to name themselves and one who did not.

“These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.

“I have been remorseful of my actions. And I’ve tried to learn from them. And run from them. Now I’m aware of the extent of the impact of my actions. I learned yesterday the extent to which I left these women who admired me feeling badly about themselves and cautious around other men who would never have put them in that position.

“I also took advantage of the fact that I was widely admired in my and their community, which disabled them from sharing their story and brought hardship to them when they tried because people who look up to me didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t think that I was doing any of that because my position allowed me not to think about it.

“There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for. And I have to reconcile it with who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with.

“I wish I had reacted to their admiration of me by being a good example to them as a man and given them some guidance as a comedian, including because I admired their work.

“The hardest regret to live with is what you’ve done to hurt someone else. And I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought on them. I’d be remiss to exclude the hurt that I’ve brought on people who I work with and have worked with who’s professional and personal lives have been impacted by all of this, including projects currently in production: the cast and crew of Better Things, Baskets, The Cops, One Mississippi, and I Love You Daddy. I deeply regret that this has brought negative attention to my manager Dave Becky who only tried to mediate a situation that I caused. I’ve brought anguish and hardship to the people at FX who have given me so much The Orchard who took a chance on my movie. and every other entity that has bet on me through the years.

“I’ve brought pain to my family, my friends, my children and their mother.

“I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.

“Thank you for reading.”

Written by:  Ace News Today Staff