Sorry, Sarah Silverman, but…
… cum again?
(Okay, truthfully, we’re sorry to our readers here.)
The comedian has made some very gross headlines by appearing Monday morning on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show and speaking on her friendship with Louis C.K.
Back in November, of course, C.K. was accused of five women of sexual misconduct.
They all said that the famous stand-up jerked off in their presence, an allegation that C.K. later acknowledged as true.
Talking to Stern, Silverman sort of defended her friend’s actions (or at least his mindset at the time of these actions) by telling a personal and disgusting story:
“I don’t know if I’m going to regret saying this,” she said. “I’ve known Louis forever, I’m not making excuses for him, so please don’t take this that way. We are peers. We are equals.
“When we were kids, and he asked if he could masturbate in front of me, sometimes I’d go, ‘F-c yeah I want to see that!’ …
“It’s not analogous to the other women that are talking about what he did to them. He could offer me nothing. We were only just friends.
“So sometimes, yeah, I wanted to see it, it was amazing. Sometimes I would say, ‘F-cking no, gross,’ and we got pizza.”
Well… okay then.
Not sure what else to say about that.
C.K. pleasuring himself in front of a woman who admittedly wants him to do so is fine of course.
Especially, as Silverman notes here, when the two people involved are peers.
But C.K. pleasuring himself in front of women who did not give their consent and over whom he held power is unethical and wildly inappropriate.
Silverman’s point here, however, is that C.K. may not have realized this upon yanking out his junk in front of his victims.
“I’m not saying what he did was okay,” she said to Stern, explaining:
“I’m just saying at a certain point, when he became influential, not even famous, but influential in the world of comedy, it changes.
“He felt like he was the same person, but the dynamic was different and it was not okay.”
It was definitely not okay.
“I’m not saying everyone should embrace Louis again,” Silverman continued.
“I believe he has remorse. I just want him to talk about it on stage. He’s going to have to find his way or not find his way.”
Louis, of course, has now returned to the stage, despite many people thinking he hasn’t learned any lessons; suffered any consequences; or taking any steps to make anyone believe he regrets his actions.
Said C.K. in a statement after the aforementioned five women came forward:
These stories are true.
At the time, I said to myself that what I did was O.K. 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.
One of the women who sat and watched C.K. masturbate said the experience discouraged her from pursuing a career in comedy.
It ruined the entire entertainment industry for her.
Concluded C.K. in his statement:
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..
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’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.
