‘I Was Hurting Other People’

Comedian Louis CK got candid on a podcast with fellow comedian Theo Von about the sexual misconduct that disrupted his once-blooming career.

CK joined Von on his This Past Weekend podcast this week to promote his upcoming debut novel Ingram. During the conversation, Von referenced the 2017 “allegations” that disrupted the comedian’s career.

“You had like, you know, this is when things had gotten kind of crazy in your career with accusations and all types of stuff and, and, uh, and accurate accusations,” Von said.

“Accurate accusations,” CK said, the pair laughing in agreement.

In 2017, CK admitted that multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him were true. The allegations came at the height of the MeToo and TimesUp movements where numerous prominent men, mostly from Hollywood, were called out for sexual misconduct.

CK admitted that allegations he had masturbated in front of women, many of the women working below him, without consent.

“The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly,” CK admitted at the time.

At the time, CK lost several high profile gigs. The release of a movie he directed and starred in, I Love You Daddy, was scrapped. He then went out on a comedy tour with the likes of Kevin Brennan, Tony Woods, and others opening for him, and he has since independently released content.

CK said he felt an odd sense of freedom when the allegations came out and he needed to cop to his behavior.

The comedian said:

You’re trying to piece together that broken mirror and cutting your fingers, that’s beautiful. It’s true, and when life fucks it up for you, when it gets torn up, it’s a relief. That’s why I felt free, you know? Because I had tried to manage these problems I had inside of me for so many years, and I tried to feel like I was like a normal person, or that I was what I thought of as a good person. But I was doing shit in the background of my life that I was ashamed of. I was hurting other people and trying to tell myself I wasn’t.

CK continued by saying it’s taken a long time for him to realize what was wrong with his behavior.

He said:

You know, those things on the edge, like using another person, but you got their permission first, you’re still using another other person. You’re not being with them, you’re using them. That took me a long time to learn about that stuff. But when you’re doing that stuff and creating more and more problems, they just keep getting bigger and bigger. And then the worst thing is if you’re having a good life that’s successful, because you’re feeling this like incredible rift between like the way you’re representing yourself and who you really are and it’s getting really, and I used to try, I think some of the early versions of talking on stage really honestly were me trying to get out and say I’m corrupt, I want everybody to know it. Right, I’m a corrupt file.

Watch above via This Past Weekend.

The post Louis CK Gets Candid On Sexual Misconduct That Blew Up Career: ‘I Was Hurting Other People’ first appeared on Mediaite.