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‘These stories are true,’ Louis C.K. Responds to Accusations of Sexual Misconduct

NEW YORK — Comedic actor Louis C.K. became the latest actor embroiled in a sex scandal on Thursday when the New York Times published a report with allegat...
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NEW YORK — Comedic actor Louis C.K. became the latest actor embroiled in a sex scandal on Thursday when the New York Times published a report with allegations from five women.

The women alleged that C.K. acted inappropriately, including masturbating in front of them.

Comedy duo, Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov alleged that in 2002, C.K. exposed himself to them after inviting them to hang out in his hotel room.

“He proceeded to take all of his clothes off, and get completely naked, and started masturbating, Goodman told the New York Times.

Three other women alleged separate acts of sexual misconduct.

On Friday, comedian Louis C.K. issued a statement in response to sexual misconduct allegations. Below is his statement in full.

Warning: This statement contains language some may consider offensive.

“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.

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. 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.

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.”

It’s not the first time there has been talk in the press about C.K. and inappropriate behavior.

In 2015, Gawker published a story titled “Louis C.K. Will Call You Up to Talk About His Alleged Sexual Misconduct,” which included allegations that the comic exposed himself and masturbated in front of female comedians who were not named in the story.

A year later, Roseanne Barr told the Daily Beast she was aware of the stories about C.K.’s alleged behavior.

“It’s Louis C.K., locking the door and masturbating in front of women comics and writers,” she said. “I can’t tell you—I’ve heard so many stories.”

In August comic Tig Notaro talked to the Daily Beast about C.K., who serves as executive producer of her Amazon series, “One Mississippi.”

She sought to distance herself and her series — which included a storyline about sexual assault — from C.K.

“It’s frustrating, because he has nothing to do with the show,” Notaro said.

The premiere for Louis C.K.’s new film, “I Love You, Daddy” was abruptly canceled on Thursday

“Due to unexpected circumstances, tonight’s event for ‘I Love You, Daddy’ has been cancelled,” the film’s production company, The Orchard, said in a statement.

The New York premiere was set to take place at the Paris Theatre.

C.K. wrote, directed, financed and starred in the dramedy about a TV writer-producer attempting to put the breaks on a burgeoning relationship between his under aged daughter, played by Chloe Grace Moretz and a 68-year-old filmmaker played by the actor John Malkovich.

The film stirred controversy in September after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival for its dialogue, which included the liberal use of “the n-word” and child rape jokes as well as the seeming semblance to sex abuse allegations against filmmaker Woody Allen.

Allen’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow has accused him of molesting her as a child. Allen has denied the allegations.

The director famously wed his former girlfriend Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, who is 35 years his junior.

“Woody is an ingredient, along with a whole other generation of dudes who used to go up and down the age line a lot more easily,” C.K. told The Hollywood Reporter in September. “I grew up with that. [Allen’s 1979 comedy] Manhattan is a movie I saw as a kid, and I was like, ‘OK, that’s what people do.'”

C.K.’s appearance on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was also nixed. The comedian was set to appear on the Thursday show but was replaced by William H. Macy on Wednesday evening.

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