Louis CK

A column from 2017, when the comedian admitted to sexually harassing multiple women. He performs in New Zealand this November.

We all want to feel safe, we all want to feel seen, we all want to feel heard. I like intelligence in my comedy, I like truth, I like punching up (or punching inwards), I like all the things that people seem to like about CK, but that I never got from him. It’s difficult to re-examine something you’ve loved all these years and realise that it’s problematic and the thing that you loved makes somebody else feel shitty and unsafe. It’s shitty and difficult to see them make jokes that make another group feel smaller, feel less than, or feel othered. Just like it’s easy to be friends with a mean person who is nice to you but makes jokes at everybody else’s expense, it’s easy to like a comedian who makes jokes at other people’s expense but isn’t lobbing jokes at you. I got someone who was speaking from a place of incredible, unquestioned privilege and consistently punching down at easy targets because it was safer and easier to do so. I’m incredibly thankful that in 2017 we’re in a social media landscape where these stories are starting to come out in major news outlets with actual consequences for harassers, predators and abusers from all levels of society, not just the entertainment industry. CK’s joke about the f-word (the one I can say but you can’t) had over a million hits on YouTube. [“Is Louis CK only good because white dudes told you so?”](https://thespinoff.co.nz/comedy/15-03-2017/is-louis-ck-only-good-because-white-men-told-you-so-sam-brooks-on-the-comedy-canon/) It was less about CK, and more about what art is perceived as universal and great and what art isn’t. [five favourite comedy specials](https://thespinoff.co.nz/comedy/10-03-2017/the-five-best-comedy-specials-ever-according-to-our-comedy-co-editor/), which all happened to be by women (who I believed, still believe, and will ever believe, are funnier than men). HBO has ended production deals, FX has removed him from shows that he had in production, Netflix released a statement saying they will not release his next special (but they still carry three of his old ones). Louis CK is also someone who has been hugely influential in the world of stand-up comedy.