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.
_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 … _
The whole statement reads as, i’m great, i thought these people knew that, how didn’t they understand that. I now have to say things i don’t for a second believe, because future earnings are at stake.
The man’s an egotistical cunt. I hope he dies painful and soon.
To be fair, and I make no apologies his actions. He did apologise to the women in question a few years ago. Well before it was public. He does seem quite contrite.
In this case Louis has seemed to admit guilt as much. He masturbated in front of 4 women. Some of his stand up was an admittance, he knew he’d done something wrong. I don’t think he was predatory person. And he will pay, financially and career wise it’s over for him now.
This reactionary “he needs to die now painfully” is wrong.
There is very little contrition in any of this. Now it seems the thing to do is to say that they have issues and that they are “seeking treatment.” They dont even bother to throw in sex additction any more which used to be the get out clause. Their lawyers seem to be telling them to say that they are “examining their behaviour,” It is the police and the prosecution that need to examine their behaviour.
Right up until the last moment, Louis and those around him were trying to keep this stuff quiet. As has been mentioned, people have tried to report on this for a while, and those people have had their livelihoods threatened. I’m not buying any of these bullshit apologies. He’s sorry he got caught, not that he did it.
I’d be pretty surprised if those that have so far come forward were the only people he did this too.
He’s the same as the rest of them and i find it disturbing that people are trying to make excuses for him because they find his shows amusing.
He used his supposed art to play out his perverted fantasies, which in turn strengthened his power over others, as it normalised his actions(on national tv).
Why does everyone seem to be so in awe of these people, just because their faces regularly appear on the idiot box?
This article probably belongs in the “art or artist” thread, but you should never separate the two. That’s just using one as an excuse to ignore the actions of the other.
At the same time, he’s built alternative-world versions of himself — as in the FX show “Louie” — where he’s tried on the identities of aging creep, attempted rapist and exhibitionist masturbator. He’s also made his character the victim of similar crimes: Louie has been forced to perform oral sex on a date and been anally penetrated by his friend Pamela as he screams in protest. In each case, he recovers easily from the violation — just as Pamela shrugs it off after Louie tries to drag her, kicking and screaming, to bed with him. These episodes garnered acclaim as canny twists on gender politics, and their critical reception was clearly vaulted by their engagement with current debates around consent.
These scenes now play differently. What once looked like creative provocations now read like justifications of a moral universe where women are as complicit in sexual violation as men are, and where sex that begins with force easily gives way to mutual desire.