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After five female comics accused Louis C.K. of inappropriate behavior involving masturbation, the comedian has admitted that the "stories are true."

C.K. expressed remorse and said he used his power "irresponsibly." His statement, and other elements of this post, contain language some may find offensive.

In the statement released by his publicist, C.K. said in part: "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."

Rumors have long swirled in the comedy community that C.K. had a pattern of masturbating in front of women who were spending time with him in a professional context, including on sets or otherwise in the workplace.

 that took the allegations out of the world of blind items and gossip blogs and transformed it into a major story with multiple named sources.


Two comics said C.K. asked to masturbate in front of them after a comedy festival, which they thought was a joke — but then he did it. Another comedian said C.K. asked to masturbate in front of her and, after she rebuffed him, said he had "issues." One woman said she heard him masturbating on the phone after she called to invite him to a show of hers; another woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she agreed to watch him masturbate in his office while he was a producer on a TV show where she worked.

C.K.'s statement, released by his publicist, reads in full:


HBO cut ties with C.K. Thursday night, after the story broke. The distributor of his upcoming film, 

. The movie was slated to come out next week — and, as reviewers noted, contained scenes in which a character mimed masturbation in front of other people. The film's future is unclear, Deadline writes.
Also separating itself from C.K. is the FX networks: "We are cancelling the overall deal between FX Productions and his production company, Pig Newton. He will no longer serve as executive producer or receive compensation on any of the four shows we were producing with him — 

FX adds that it knows of no unprofessional behavior by C.K. on the series he has produced for the company. "However," the statement adds,  "now is not the time for him to make television shows. Now is the time for him to honestly address the women who have come forth to speak about their painful experiences, a process which he began today with his public statement."

Several women named in the story responded on Twitter, at least obliquely, to C.K.'s stated (and self-admittedly inadequate) defense that he "asked" before masturbating.

"You asked but we never said yes," tweeted the account of comedy duo Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov.


And Rebecca Corry, who said no when C.K. asked if she would watch him masturbate, retweeted comedy writer Katie Rich's response, "If a woman wants to see your penis she will tell you."  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


Arts and Culture

After five female comics accused Louis C.K. of inappropriate behavior involving masturbation, the comedian has admitted that the "stories are true."


'The stories are true,' Louis C.K. says, after women described his sexual misconduct

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