TORONTO — In the wake of Louis C.K.’s record-breaking stand-up comedy tour, which included a recent performance at the ACC, ugly rumours have resurfaced involving the beloved comedian exploiting his status to forcibly show women his self-financed drama series Horace & Pete.
“I don’t want to get anybody in trouble,” an anonymous commenter on a Facebook thread stated, “but a friend of mine had a gross encounter with this guy and it’s really spoiled his work for me. She was in his hotel room after a meeting, and kind of out of nowhere he started asking her if it would be okay if he whipped out his impossibly slow-moving and pretentious television show. As she was trying to leave he stood in front of the door, and she ended up just waiting until the episode was done.”
The commenter added, “at least, she thinks it was done. There was no joke or conclusion. It was just Louis C.K. looking sadly at a table with the same music cue playing for the fourth time in 37 minutes. So, it was probably done? To this day she can’t get a really good handle on what happened.”
Other stories following a disturbingly similar trend. One anonymous female comedian referred to a time when C.K. had “come up to me right after a show and asked me if I wanted to watch “a really important episode of television.” I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, so I just got out of there. Thank God I did.”
This rumor has resurfaced at a time when women in comedy are speaking out more and more about the treatment they sometimes receive from powerful male colleagues. These women are frustrated by the media’s refusal to cover the accusations against the beloved comedy figure.
“It can be really hard,” one source reported, “when you look up to someone and think he’s interested in your career, and then you’re alone with them and you realize all he wanted was for you to sit through a 50-minute family drama where he makes Nina Arianda talk about having sex with him and puts himself in the same category as Jessica Lange and Steve Buscemi. It’s just hard to get over what stuff like that does to your confidence.”
At press time, numerous supporters had rallied to C.K.’s defense, arguing that it is unfair to judge a great performer by a terrible thing he has done in private, even if it is funding, producing, and causing someone to see Horace & Pete.
