I am one of the women from the comedy team in the 2017 New York Times article about Louis C.K. Of all the opinion pieces written about this subject – and there have been hundreds – this is the first time I have responded to one.
If Mark Breslin had read the Times article, he would know that C.K. was accused by five women publicly, not four, and that what happened to us occurred in 2002, not 2005 (“Why I brought Louis C.K. back from the dead,” Mark Breslin, Nov. 7).
Contrary to Breslin’s accounting, what C.K. did was not done with consent. We never agreed nor asked him to take all his clothes off and masturbate to completion in front of us. But it didn’t matter because the exciting part for him was the fear on our faces.
Just as it must be very exciting for Breslin to be one of the only comedy clubs to book Louis C.K. and write about it in the Canadian Jewish News.
Since Breslin seems to take pride in his Judaism, he should know that four of the five women from the Times article are Jewish. The author’s attempt to convince himself and the Jewish community of the validity of supporting C.K. by saying he is part Jewish is shameful.
What if this had happened to your daughter or son? Or your wife? How would you feel? How would you feel about them getting consistent hate mail from Louis C.K. supporters who tell them to kill themselves? Did this factor into the author’s “unscientific market survey”?
We too work in comedy. We will probably never make tens of millions of dollars to lose. Louis C.K. is still very wealthy. He is touring, and he will be fine. Although we may never have the stature to perform at Yuk Yuk’s, we will continue to navigate our careers the best we can.
So, when you pat yourself on the back for Louis C.K.’s career resurgence and helping your business thrive, maybe think about the human beings encumbered in this story.
