Louis C.K.

[americanchai]

If I was somebody who had experienced what those women experienced, I still wouldn't want my name associated with him - AT ALL.

I know masturbation seems to be one of the top three topics that all male comedians use but Louis's stories always seemed particularly gross and very idiosyncratic and personal even before the stories of him forcing female comedians to watch him do it backstage came out in public. Now it's even triply gross so it ruins all of his old specials.

There's hundreds, if not thousands of comedians, male or female who can keep their genitalia to themselves. Let's give them all the chances.

[canuckcutie]

With Louis the harm was two-fold, he exposed himself to women and then his Manager went around threatening to have his victims black listed if they ever talked. Louis acknowledged exposing himself but didn’t really acknowledge the additional harm his Manager did on his behalf. Plus he never really apologized to the women involved.

[magazinewhore]

He should tour with Hannah Gadsby.

He could be her opening act. That seems fair.

I'm sorry. I just rewatched her show Nanette on Netflix and I can't get her shaking with rage out of my head. I was shaking with rage along with her. I'm that mad about how I've been treated as a woman, the millions of times I feel like I've been told I'm not bright enough (I now have two master's degrees and am a professor), not authoritative enough, or been told that my looks were the most important thing about me in a million ways in society. And I got off relatively easy as a heteronormative cisgender white woman. It's all related. If we give a standing ovation to Louie CK (who I liked), we are complicit in the belief system allowed Hannah's self-loathing.

When is a fucking woman's dignity going to be as important as a male ego?

[eveschmeve]

Aug 28, 2018 14:08:52 GMT -4 magazinewhore said:

He should tour with Hannah Gadsby.

He could be her opening act. That seems fair.

A Nanette-type special would be really interesting but I think it would only work if he was actually sorry and understood the depth of the destruction he caused in his victim’s lives. I just don’t buy that he has.

When Tig Notaro comes out and says that Louis’s cool, I might be more on board.

[mrspickles]

Aug 28, 2018 13:05:28 GMT -4 americanchai said:

If I was somebody who had experienced what those women experienced, I still wouldn't want my name associated with him - AT ALL.

I know masturbation seems to be one of the top three topics that all male comedians use but Louis's stories always seemed particularly gross and very idiosyncratic and personal even before the stories of him forcing female comedians to watch him do it backstage came out in public. Now it's even triply gross so it ruins all of his old specials.

There's hundreds, if not thousands of comedians, male or female who can keep their genitalia to themselves. Let's give them all the chances.

Good point. I just can't get past knowing that there are thousands of talented women who abandoned their dreams of performing or writing because of shitty men who went on to fame and fortune and those men never give a second thought to the damage they've inflicted. I wonder about what those women might have been able to do if they'd been encouraged and guided instead of abused and discarded. I want to see some of these men really acknowledge that.

[Auroranorth]

That is part of why talk of redemption sits so badly with me now. I don't care about redeeming an abuser when their victims still suffer because of their crimes.

[magazinewhore]

I'm pretty bummed out about the lack of outrage at his "comeback." I guess I'm more bummed that he got a standing ovation at his show. I've seen a lot of men on FB and in the media saying things like, "well, who decides how long he should be gone?" and sort of splitting hairs about, and saying that it wasn't violent, etc.

If someone takes their dick out, that's implied violence because I'm assuming he's trying to initiate something sexual one way or another. I'd be pretty sure I'm going to be assaulted.

I don't know. Why are people in such a hurry to forgive him? Why does he get to comeback at all?

[mrspickles]

Aug 30, 2018 16:58:41 GMT -4 magazinewhore said:

I'm pretty bummed out about the lack of outrage at his "comeback." I guess I'm more bummed that he got a standing ovation at his show. I've seen a lot of men on FB and in the media saying things like, "well, who decides how long he should be gone?" and sort of splitting hairs about, and saying that it wasn't violent, etc.

If someone takes their dick out, that's implied violence because I'm assuming he's trying to initiate something sexual one way or another. I'd be pretty sure I'm going to be assaulted.

I don't know. Why are people in such a hurry to forgive him? Why does he get to comeback at all?

I suspect that the ones who are most invested in his comeback are the ones who have done similar things and so they either don't see it as a problem or they think if he is allowed to be redeemed they must not be so bad after all.

Even men that I know to be respectful and considerate and all the other good things don't 'get it.' The good guys are just puzzled - they don't understand why women 'put up with it' or why they wait to report it. The bad ones are the ones who condone it, or excuse it or cover it up. It's like when your friend decides to get sober. If you secretly think you might also have a problem you are more likely to encourage them not to so that you don't have to take a look at yourself.

[kostgard]

Here's a good piece from Mo Ryan on why she's done with Louis.

She's been a pretty loud voice in the MeToo movement since she is a well-known TV critic who shared her own story of being assaulted by a TV executive. But even she said she was willing to give Louis a chance and hoped that he was smart enough to recognize what he needed to do. But he whizzed that all away when he decided to just show up unannounced at a club, act like nothing has changed and then had the gall to include a joke in his surprise appearance about how rape whistles are unclean (to the credit of the people in the club, their enthusiasm for him was lower after his set than when he first stepped out on stage).

I think because this is the first time people are actually being held accountable for their behavior, a lot of people don't know/understand what the next step should be. Men aren't used to seeing people actually expect them to correct their behavior instead of just stepping back long enough for everything to cool down and then just come back and act like nothing happened.

[Martini Girl]

Aug 28, 2018 14:08:52 GMT -4 magazinewhore said:

He should tour with Hannah Gadsby.

He could be her opening act. That seems fair.

I'm sorry. I just rewatched her show Nanette on Netflix and I can't get her shaking with rage out of my head. I was shaking with rage along with her. I'm that mad about how I've been treated as a woman, the millions of times I feel like I've been told I'm not bright enough (I now have two master's degrees and am a professor), not authoritative enough, or been told that my looks were the most important thing about me in a million ways in society. And I got off relatively easy as a heteronormative cisgender white woman. It's all related. If we give a standing ovation to Louie CK (who I liked), we are complicit in the belief system allowed Hannah's self-loathing.

When is a fucking woman's dignity going to be as important as a male ego?

I LOVE everything about this. Thank you.