Louis CK is a comedian. And he made a name for himself as a righteous pro-woman kind of guy. Publicly, at least, where one stand-up routine went a little like this:
In short, he asked, perplexed: ‘How do women still go out with guys when you consider there is no greater threat to women than men? We’re the number one threat to women globally and historically we’re the number one cause of injury and mayhem to women we’re the worst thing that ever happens to them? That’s true!’
However, it might very well turn out that when he said 'we', he really meant himself, as CK has been accused of sexual misconduct by five women. The New York Times reports that on all occasions, CK masturbated in front of unconsenting women. Rumours of this behaviour have been reported on for years, but post-Weinstein, people are really listening.
It’s not as if CK pretending to be a good guy was a one-time thing either. He is due to release a film called I Love You, Daddy, all about a creepy intergenerational relationship between a man played by 63-year-old John Malkovich and Louis’ character’s daughter, played by 20-year-old Chloe Moretz. The premiere for the film was cancelled following the reports of the allegations against CK. The fim may never be released.
CK also looked at sexual harassment in this now-incredibly creepy clip featuring the late Joan Rivers, who once gave CK the advice ‘Know when you’re lucky.’
Joan Rivers literally died under the knife so she could look beautiful enough for the entertainment industry, a sprawling place that has long given at best creepy and at worst downright criminal men a free pass to hurt women.
With the likes of Woody Allen, Chris Brown, R Kelly, Roman Polanski and Johnny Depp an so on long having been alleged (and in some cases proven) to having violated women’s safety, the discussion of separating art from the artist has long been a talking topic. The tussle is - this work has made these men important enough to get away with their actions - but how are you, an innocent consumer, meant to know that when looking at the seemingly objective art they make? It’s arguable that R Kelly, who once sang Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number, and is alleged to have abused vulnerable girls as young as 14, has woven his sexual desires for incredibly young women into his lyrics in a way that Johnny Depp hasn't made being violent to his then-wife Amber Heard part of his art.
But wherever you stand on that, in wafts another stench to add to the toxic miasma of gross, powerful men taking advantage of their position, not only to hurt others, but get away with it. And this is men who act like they're above and against the very harassment they go onto partake in. Not only is it harassment, but they’re covering it up with hypocritical overtures to feminism, marking themselves as the good guys.
Because it’s not just Louis CK who’s been accused of harassment. On a lower, but no less significant level, Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, is alleged to have told female writer Kate Gordon ‘that I owed it to him to let him see me naked’ - language that extends far beyond the worse thing we ever heard on Mad Men - he did this while working on a show with a premise of sending up historical harassers. Gordon was let go by Weiner within a year of winning an Emmy for the show, and hasn’t written for television since.
Weiner’s spokesman said in a statement to The Information: ‘During the nine years he was showrunner on Mad Men, Mr. Weiner had a predominantly female driven writers room. He has long believed in and implemented an egalitarian working environment including the highest levels of production and writing based on mutual respect for all.’
The question builds. It’s not only ‘can we separate the art from the artist?’ but ‘can we separate the art from the artist when the artist used their art to cover up their terrible behaviour?’
Entertainment shouldn’t have to be this complicated, we shouldn’t have to be twisting ourselves in rhetorical knots to accommodate or even understand patterns of toxic male behaviour within an industry that is meant to bring our lives a little light. But, right now, and for the foreseeable, it is. And we all know who to thank.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.