Five women have accused Louis CK of sexual inappropriate behaviour that includes masturbating in front of two female comics, according to a report by the New York Times.
Coming in the wake of years of rumors that have dogged the influential comedian, Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov said that in 2002, CK invited them to his hotel room for a nightcap and shocked them by asking if he could take out his penis. As the two women laughed, thinking it was a joke, he proceeded to take off all his clothes and masturbate.
Three other women told the New York Times that CK masturbated in their presence, over the phone, or that he asked if he could.
Louis CK's publicist, Lewis Kay, told the New York Times the comedian would not respond. "Louis is not going to answer any questions," Kay wrote in an email.
CK is one of the most revered figures in contemporary comedy. The Emmy-winning creator of the FX series Louie consistently sells out huge concerts and has cultivated a reputation as an auteur.
The report comes as CK prepared to premiere a new movie, I Love You, Daddy, about a television writer whose 17-year-old daughter is seduced by an older movie producer who is rumoured to be a paedophile.
On Thursday, his new film's production company cancelled its New York premiere, which was scheduled for that evening, and CK cancelled an appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The comedy world has convulsed with rumors about CK’s sexual misconduct for years.
In 2015, Gawker linked CK to rumors about a comedian who exposed himself to fellow performers at the Aspen and Just For Laughs comedy festivals.
As the rumors broke into public view, comedians like Roseanne Barr and Tig Notaro called on CK to respond.
“I think it’s important to take care of that, to handle that, because it’s serious to be assaulted,” Notaro told the Daily Beast.
“It’s serious to be harassed. It’s serious, it’s serious, it’s serious.”
An episode of Notaro’s show, One Mississippi, featured a powerful man who masturbated in front of another character.
“He [SHOULD] answer,” Barr tweeted, saying she was aware of “MULTIPLE accusations in Hollywood’s working woman circles”.
But CK has broadly refused to answer the allegations, which were anonymous, in public.
“I don’t care about that. That’s nothing to me. That’s not real,” CK told Vulture in 2016. “You can’t touch stuff like that.”
Following a Toronto screening of his new movie, I Love You, Daddy, CK told a New York Times reporter, “I’m not going to answer to that stuff, because they’re rumors. If you actually participate in a rumour, you make it bigger and you make it real. They’re rumors, that’s all that is.” - Guardian
