Following allegations brought forward by five different women in a New York Times article that said that Louis C.K. masturbated in front of them or during phone conversations, C.K. has released a statement admitting that the allegations are true.
“These stories are true,” C.K.’s statement begins. “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.”
C.K. goes on to admit that he took advantage of the fact that the women looked up to and admired him, which prevented them from sharing their stories with the comedy community “because people who look up to me didn’t want to hear it.”
“There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for,” C.K. says. “And I have to reconcile it with who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with.”
C.K. closes the statement by apologizing to his family, as well as those who have been forced to defend him and his actions.
The comedian is one of several powerful men in Hollywood — including Harvey Weinstein, Ed Westwick and Kevin Spacey — that have had sexual harassment or assault allegations brought against them in recent weeks. As in many other cases, the (rightful) damage to his career has happened quickly. According to Variety, Netflix has already announced that it nixed plans for a comedy special with C.K. and HBO has said it will be removing all of C.K.’s content from its streaming platform.