Earlier today, several media outlets reported that a premiere event for Louis C.K.’s controversial new film, I Love You Daddy, had been canceled due to forthcoming allegations against the comic.
Moments ago, The New York Times confirmed the story with a piece detailing accusations against C.K. from five female colleagues.
Rumors about C.K. sexually assaulting female comics have been circulating for years, but now the alleged victims are telling their stories for the first time.
The first reported incident reportedly took place in Aspen in 2002.
Chicago-based comics Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov claim that after they performed at the city’s Comedy Arts festival, they were invited by C.K. to his hotel room to celebrate.
The women say they felt safe, as they knew they would be together at the hotel, and both were longtime fans of C.K.’s work.
Moments after they arrived in his room, however, C.K. allegedly asked if he could take out his penis.
Goodman and Wolov say they thought C.K. was joking at first, and were stunned when he proceeded to expose himself.
“And then he really did it,” Goodman tells the Times.
“He proceeded to take all of his clothes off, and get completely naked, and started masturbating.”
A woman named Abby Schachner tells a similar tale.
Schachner claims that in 2003, C.K. called to invite her to one of his comedy shows, and she could hear him masturbating as they spoke on the phone.
Another comedian, Rebecca Corry, says that she met C.K. in 2005 while they were filming a TV pilot together.
She claims the comic asked if he could masturbate in front of her, but she declined.
C.K. addressed the allegations against him indirectly in a 2016 interview with Vulture, saying:
“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,” he told the outlet.
Today, the comic is declining to speak on his own behalf, and has instead issued a terse statement through his PR team.
“Louis is not going to answer any questions,” publicist Lewis Kay tells the Times.
Reaction on social media has been mixed, as despite the fact that the allegations against C.K. have been something of an open secret for years, many fans who weren’t aware of the rumors are expressing shock and confusion today.
This may be partially due to C.K.’s meek, self-deprecating stage persona, which doesn’t seem to fit the standard profile of an abuser.
In this way, the situation serves as a reminder that just as victims of sexual misconduct come in all ages, races, shapes, and sizes, so too do the perpetrators.
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.
