Photo courtesy of New York Magazine.
Summary: Louis C.K. has been accused of masturbating in front of women without their permission.
On Thursday, The New York Times published an explosive expose on comic Louis C.K. detailing his lurid history of forcing women to watch him masturbate. On Friday, the star of Louie confessed that everything said about him was true.
“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,” Louis C.K said. “These stories are true.”
The stories told by women such as Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov to The New York Times were similar. Louis C.K. invited them to spend time with him, and then he’d randomly ask to show his penis before masturbating in front of them. The women describe the shock of his actions, and how they never thought his request to show them his penis was serious until he took it out.
In his confession, Louis C.K. explained how he thought what he was doing was fine because he was asking for permission, but he stated that he knows now he was wrong because he was in a position of power and the women felt coerced.
“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,” Louis C.K wrote. “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.”
After the New York Times story broke, HBO cut ties with the comic, who was scheduled to do another comedy special for them. The distributor of his latest firm I Love You, Daddy also canceled its release. The film told the tale of an older man dating a much younger woman, and critics stated that the grossness of the topic couldn’t have come out at a worse time for Louis C.K.
Some of Louis C.K.’s victims have already responded to his confession. On Twitter, Goodman and Wolov wrote, “You asked but we never said yes.”
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