How the mighty fall, some on their swords and others on their “sexpertise.” This story started in 2002 when two female comedians Julia Wolov and Dan Min Goodman got a chance to appear at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. Then their night turned sour when Louis C.K. invited them to his room for a drink. Since the bar was closed, they thought it a great idea from a colleague, especially of his stature. He took all his clothes off and started to masturbate in front of them.
It happened again, this time to Abby Schachner, when Louis C.K. invited her to his show, she claimed that she could hear him masturbate over the phone. While Rebecca Corey, another comedian, in 2005, appeared on Louis C.K.’s show and he asked her if he could masturbate in front of her, to which she said no.
With so many women coming out to claim that Louis C.K. likes to masturbate in front of them, the difference between him and the usual string of powerful men being accused of sexual harassment is that Louis C.K. is perhaps one of the best-known comedy figures in the US, with all his shows sold out, even eight times in Madison Square Gardens, and his comedy was always about male hypocrisy.
In the meantime, he has canceled all his appearances including “I love you, Daddy,” and his publicist and PR manager cover for him, since he is now impossible to contact. While Louis C.K. never actually threatened anyone, taking off all his clothes and masturbating in front of his coworkers is crossing a very thick line, stated Ms. Wolov. Dave Bekey, his manager, stated that he never threatened anyone.
Louis C.K. would actually put jokes about masturbation in his acts and would publicly say on stage that he had a problem, only everyone thought he was joking. One of his jokes was related to finding somewhere private and would say “I’m on the streets now,” he adds, “I’ve got nowhere to go.” He even claims that he is subject to such constant actions. “Just the constant perverted sexual thoughts,” he would say, and then mime masturbating. “It makes me into a moron.”
Tig Notaro is one of the few professional comedians that talks out publicly against Louis C.K and goes on to state that many of her friends and colleagues were his victims, such as Ms. Corry. Tig believes that Louis promoted her album as a way to cover his tracks and to stand behind being such a female promoter.
Louis C.K. has been actively asking forgiveness and apologizing for his actions since 2009, calling up Ms. Schachner and Ms.Corry amongst the few we know he wrote to or spoke to. He actually wrote to Schachner “Last time I talked to you ended in a sordid fashion,” “Those were bad times in my life, I’m sorry.” “I remember thinking what a repulsive person I was being by responding the way that I did,” and went on to compliment Ms. Schachner’s professionalism.
In 2015 he contacted M. Corey by e-mail stating that he was “very very very late apology.” and that he shoved her into the bathroom. Ms. Corry replied that he was confusing her with someone else. He replied with “I used to misread people back then,”
Many women are now coming forward, and more will still come, there will also be those that wish to remain hidden, but the truth is that a lot of these women were coerced into partaking of a lewd act and now, as Ms. Notaro states, is the time “to speak up against this powerful figure,”.
