Louis C.K. Admits To & Apologizes For Sexual Misconduct After Being Fired From HBO [FULL TEXT]

Five women came forward to the New York Times to report that comedian Louis C.K. sexually assaulted them. Now HBO, which streamed many of the comic’s projects and stand-up specials, is cutting ties with C.K.

HBO FIRES LOUIS C.K.

The woman all shared similar stories, in which the actor masturbated in front of them or asked permission to do so. “Louis C.K. will no longer be participating in the Night of Too Many Stars: America Unites for Autism Programs, which will be presented live on HBO on November 18,” HBO said in a statement. “In addition, HBO is removing Louis C.K.’s past projects from its On Demand services.”

It was announced on Oct. 19 that C.K. would be a performer at the HBO autism fundraiser, being hosted by former Daily Show host Jon Stewart. Other stars set to appear are Stephen Colbert, Abbi Jacobson, Jordan Klepper, Hasan Minhaj, John Oliver, John Mulaney, Olivia Munn, and Adam Sandler.

C.K. is also involved in a number of other project currently. He wrote and directed film I Love You, Daddy, which is ironically about sexual assault of a minor. It was scheduled for release on Nov,. 17 but its distributor, Orchard, has paused the release to review amid the sexual misconduct allegations.

FX, which ran C.K.’s semi-autobiographical comedy series Louis for five seasons, has not cut ties with the comedian yet, but they did release a statement on Thursday: “We are obviously very troubled by the allegations about Louis C.K. published in The New York Times today. The network has received no allegations of misconduct by Louis C.K. related to any of our 5 shows produced together over the past 8 years… That said, the matter is currently under review.”

C.K. has since admitted that the claims against him are true, in a long apology. 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 comedian said. “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’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,” he concludes.

Read the entire apology below:

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.