“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., 50, said on Nov. 10, releasing a statement after an explosive Times story accused the once-beloved comedian of exposing himself and masturbating in front of those five women. “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,” Louis added. ”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.”
Read the rest of his statement below:
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.
Five women – Dana Min Goodman, Julia Wolov, Abby Schachner Rebecca Corry and one who wished to remain anonymous – went on the record, recounting their experiences with Louis to the Times. Dana and Julia said they were invited to hang out with Louis in 2002, during which he asked if he could “take out his penis.” Abby and Rebecca said they had a similar experience with Louis in 2003. The fifth woman claimed that while he worked on The Chris Rock Show in the 1990s, he would masturbate in front of her.
These allegations have been following Louis (born Louis Székely) for years. Roseanne Barr, 65, accused Louis of “locking the door” before masturbating in front of women – in 2016, a full year before the New York Times article came out. Louis C.K. is pretty much over now. HBO has removed his past projects – his comedy specials and his short-lived Lucky Louie series – from their on-demand services, according to Deadline. He will also not appear at Jon Stewart’s annual Night of Too Many Stars fundraiser. Netflix also canceled a planned second stand-up special.
HollywoodLifers, what do you think about Louis’s statement and apology?