In today's installment of "Not all men? Are you sure?", the New York Times reports that Louis C.K. has been accused of sexual misconduct by as many as five different women. Since then, the comedian has canceled the premiere to his upcoming film I Love You, Daddy (ugh) mere hours before the screening was set to take place and has also bowed out of an upcoming appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
In comedy and showbiz circles, C.K.'s gross misbehavior has been common knowledge for quite some time—just like the transgressions of Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and others before him. But for those outside the entertainment industry, this one likely smarts quite a bit more than the others: in his comedy, C.K. has often been vocal about how much men suck, and because of that he was one of the few male comedians who really seemed to get it (and by "it" I mean "the patriarchy").
In recent years, though, C.K. has been tossing out red flags like a disorganized office worker who still uses Microsoft Outlook to read his email. His latest film, I Love You, Daddy (again: ugh), is a black-and-white horror show disguised as a comedy in which C.K.'s 17-year-old daughter begins an affair with a 68-year-old man. In one pivotal scene, a young actress convinces C.K. that there is nothing wrong with romantic relationships between teenage girls and grown adult men who should know better. In its style and subject matter, the film is pretty clearly an homage to the oeuvre of known creep Woody Allen.
The C.K. story is only the latest in a rapidly-proliferating line of scandals about Hollywood titans abusing their power in the name of sexual misconduct. Among the men (they're all men) who have been implicated thus far are producer Weinstein, actor Spacey, director Brett Ratner, Amazon executive Roy Price, actor Dustin Hoffman, and many, many others.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a nap and try to forget that men exist in the world.
Megan Loreto
Megan Loreto
Ilana Maiman
Ilana Maiman