Louis C.K. still mum on sex allegations

Fellow comedian raises issue in interviews

Rumours have long run rampant among the comedy community that Louis C.K. has sexually assaulted numerous women by masturbating in front of them and speaking to them in derogatory language.

But it’s one of those rumours that’s always been easily buried or skimmed over, because if anyone is considered the reigning king of comedy, for all intents and purposes, it’s Louis C.K.

Comedian Tig Notaro has been one of the few who has spoken up about the allegations against him, but he not only helped bring her to prominence with her first standup special, but is also listed as an executive producer on her Amazon TV series One Mississippi (though Notaro has said it’s “frustrating,” because he’s “never been involved”).

In a recent interview with The Daily Beast, Notaro said C.K. should “come clean” about the allegations.

This week, at the première of his upcoming movie I Love You, Daddy at the Toronto International Film Festival, C.K. commented, sort of, saying to The New York Times, “I’m not going to answer to that stuff, because they’re rumours. If you actually participate in a rumour, you make it bigger and you make it real.”

When the NYT asked if the allegations are true, he answered, “No. They’re rumours, that’s all that is.”

He was then asked directly about Notaro’s comments. C.K. responded, “I don’t know why she said the things she’s said, I really don’t. I don’t think talking about that stuff in the press and having conversations over press lanes is a good idea.”

The plot thickened when Notaro seemingly commented on the entire debacle again on Monday to The Hollywood Reporter, when she described a scene in the new season of her show, in which a female character realizes that her boss is masturbating while talking to him in a pitch meeting.

“We wanted to show that you can be assaulted without even being touched,” Notaro said. “Nothing can be said and you are still horrifically violated and scared.”

When THR then asked her about her current relationship with C.K., she responded, “I have not spoken to Louis in probably going on two years now. I will never hear from Louis C.K. again.”