Last year, comedian Louis C.K. was accused of sexual assault by a young man identified only as “Jason,” who claimed to have contacted the comic to request that he stop behaving inappropriately with female comedians.
Jason told Gawker that he sent C.K. the following email after learning of some disturbing allegations:
“Hey could you please stop sexually assaulting female comics? It’s really uncomfortable to have to ask your hero to stop taking his penis out in front of uninterested and frightened girls, but such is life.”
Jason claimed that C.K. expressed concerns about the allegations, but never denied them.
Shortly thereafter, comedian Jen Kirkman described an uncomfortable encounter with a male comic who sounded an awful lot like C.K:
“And then I had another guy who is a very famous comic,” Kirkman said in a now-deleted episode of her podcast.
“He is probably at Cosby level at this point. He is lauded as a genius. He is basically a French filmmaker at this point. You know, new material every year.
“He’s a known perv … This guy didn’t rape me, but he made a certain difficult decision to go on tour with him really hard. Because I knew if I did, I’d be getting more of the same weird treatment I’d been getting from him.”
Surprisingly, the claims against C.K. never received any attention from mainstream press outlets, and most fans were probably unaware of the situation when the beloved comic briefly addressed it during a recent interview with Vulture.
Now, however, it seems that fellow comedian Roseanne Barr has taken it upon herself to ensure that the allegations won’t be swept under the carpet again.
“I’ve been speaking up,” Barr said in a recent interview with the Daily Beast.
“It’s Louis C.K., locking the door and masturbating in front of women comics and writers. I can’t tell you – I’ve heard so many stories. Not just him, but a lot of them. And it’s just par for the course. It’s just shit women have to put up with.”
It was the first time that someone who was willing to be identified mentioned C.K.’s name in connection with the allegations.
Shortly after the interview appeared online, however, Barr sent the site a follow-up email clarifying that she has no firsthand experience of C.K.’s alleged misconduct:
The email noted that accusations against C.K. “have been leveled and talked about for years. I do not have first hand knowledge, though have heard women make these allegations.”
It sounds like Barr’s way of backing away from previous statement for legal reasons.
Despite that, you can be sure this won’t be the last time she addresses the matter.