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Louis C.K. Cancels His Cancellation, Is it OK to Laugh Now?

Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on

Compared to the instant shock of watching Will Smith slap Chris Rock at the Academy Awards, the Recording Academy seemed to be delivering a quieter but just as profound slap to cancel culture a week later when it awarded a Grammy to embattled comedian Louis C.K.

Born Louis Szekely, C.K. was one of the nation’s most successful comedians until November 2017, when he admitted to masturbating in front of four female colleagues, according to a New York Times investigation, and a fifth who said he had asked to do so.

“These stories are true,” he admitted in an apologetic statement. “The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.”

He sounded contrite enough. But, as kinks go, this particular offense was too bizarre for a lot of us to imagine, let alone forgive.

So, after multiple awards, including two other Grammys and six Primetime Emmys, C.K.’s rising stardom crashed. His standup career stopped. HBO purged his previous projects from its on-demand service. A planned appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was canceled. So was the release of a comedy he had filmed with John Malkovich.

But show business can be quite forgiving for a comedian who can still get laughs.

 

In August 2018, less than a year after his downfall, he was back onstage for an unannounced appearance at a New York comedy club, where he reportedly was well-received. He continued his slow trek back up the comeback trail and has since released two comedy specials directly through his website.

Such is the world of show business in the internet age. As countless politicians have learned, you don’t need a lot of startup money, if you can help a niche audience find you online.

But where does this leave the many people, particularly women, who feel their legitimate concerns about sexual harassment or worse are being ignored in pursuit for more laughs from Louis?

Doesn’t that make our society just that much more coarse, vulgar and inhumane when we ignore voices that get ignored too much already?

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