Louis C.K. found himself at the centre of controversy due to a scene in the new season of fellow comic Tig Notaro’s Amazon series One Mississippi.
The scene involves a male authority figure forcing a female subordinate to watch him while he pleasures himself, mirroring persistent whispers in the comedy community that the Louis star had pulled that exact same move with some female comics.
While C.K. has continually denied the gossip, in a recent interview with The Daily Beast, Notaro implied that he needed to “take care” of the rumours. “I think it’s important to take care of that, to handle that, because it’s serious to be assaulted. It’s serious to be harassed. It’s serious, it’s serious, it’s serious,” said Notaro, adding that she and C.K. (who is an exec producer on her show) haven’t spoken “in a year-and-a-half.”
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The Daily Beast also reports that, during a podcast, comedian Jen Kirkman discussed a “known perv” comedian but wouldn’t name him over fear that her career would be impacted if she outed the man.
Roseanne Barr, however, was quick to point fingers and name names. “It’s Louis C.K., locking the door and masturbating in front of women comics and writers. I can’t tell you —I’ve heard so many stories,” she told The Daily Beast in an earlier interview, although she admitted she doesn’t have “firsthand knowledge” of any such incidents, just that she’s “heard women make these allegations.”
Meanwhile, C.K. is flat-out denying the “rumours” in a new interview with The New York Times, explaining why he refuses to even discuss them.
“I’m not going to answer to that stuff, because they’re rumours,” he told the Times. “If you actually participate in a rumour, you make it bigger and you make it real.”
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“So it’s not real?” he was asked. “No,” C.K. responded. “They’re rumours, that’s all that is.”
As for Notaro discussing her apparently strained relationship with C.K, he added: “I don’t know why she said the things she’s said, I really don’t. I don’t think talking about that stuff in the press and having conversations over press lanes is a good idea.”
This isn’t the first controversy to arise between the two comedians. After C.K. hosted SNL back in April, Notaro’s fans made her aware of a sketch in which he played a depressed guy who hired a children’s clown to perform just for him, which was eerily similar to an award-winning short film she had produced called Clown Service. Commenting on the similarities, Notaro admitted she found the sketch to be “extremely disappointing.”