The premiere of comedian Louis CK‘s controversial film about his character’s under-age daughter has been shelved–apparently in anticipation of a New York Times story about CK’s alleged sexual harassment of multiple women over the course of the past 15 years.
The Times reported on a host of rumors that have long-circulated about CK within the stand up comedy community and have occasionally been reported by the outlying edges of the nation’s news media.
Those rumors largely focused on allegations that the beloved comedian liked to force female comics to watch him masturbate–against their will. Gawker first reported on those allegations in 2012 and again in 2015.
Then, earlier this month, The Outline‘s Leah Finnegan brought up CK’s alleged behavior–and prior efforts to report on it–in the context of the Harvey Weinstein allegations in her essay, “No justice for bad men: Why the Harvey Weinstein story took so long to come out.”
The New York Times finally broke that story–with names of CK’s alleged victims–today. At an Aspen hotel in 2002, Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov were allegedly forced to watch the comedian masturbate. Goodman and Wolov categorized the encounter as sexually abusive. Goodman said, “We were paralyzed.”
The pair declined to go to the police. They opted to tell others in the stand up community and shame CK instead. But then, after they began to tell people about the incident, CK’s manager, Dave Becky, allegedly began to exert pressure to keep them quiet.
The story also documents similar incidents involving three other women.
Krystyna Hutchinson, NYC-based stand up comedian and co-host of the popular comedy podcast, “Guys We Fucked” spoke with LawNewz about the allegations. She said:
I only know of the stories that have been circulating in the comedy community. But I always wondered when the day would come that the media makes a story out of it. Glad all this shit is coming to the surface so that people who commit sexual assault know there will be consequences.
Louis CK, for his part, has repeatedly declined to respond whatsoever.
[image via screengrab]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher
Editor’s note: The author worked with Leah Finnegan at the Daily Texan while both attended the University of Texas at Austin.
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