Is It Still OK To Love Louis C.K.?

When you think about the most revolutionary voices in modern comedy, Louis C.K.’s name likely stands at the top of that list. The comedian has done more than develop his own brand of self-hating and overly vulgar, hyper-progressive criticism. He has shaped modern day comedy as we know it. And yet I find the experience of being a Louis C.K. fan in 2016 — arguably his most creatively impactful year — to be a conflicting experience.

Let me make myself clear — Louis C.K. hasn’t been explicitly called out for sexual misconduct or assault by a victim of alleged misconduct or assault. At this moment, these allegations are just rumors. In a recent interview with The Daily Beast, Roseanne Barr said that C.K. was “about to get busted” for sexual misconduct. Specifically, Barr was referring to several stories she’s heard from female comedians and writers in the industry who claim to have been locked in rooms and forced to watch C.K. masturbate. However, Barr isn’t the only source of this particular rumor. Jen Kirkman notoriously called one prominent male comedian a “known perv” on her podcast and also claimed that there was “a lockdown on talking about him.” Many fans suspected the comedian she was referring to was C.K., and the podcast episode was quickly taken down. And who could forget Gawker’s anonymous and disturbing article, “Which Beloved Comedian Likes to Force Female Comedians to Watch Him Jerk Off?” (Later, Doug Stanhope claimed to be the culprit, but prior to that, many of Stanhope’s friends thought the article was about C.K.)

Of course, these are all rumors that may later be revealed to be completely baseless. I want them to be baseless. However, as updates on Bill Cosby’s case continue to pour in, the idea of a powerful man in comedy forcing female comedians into sexual experiences they don’t want to be part of is a narrative we’re all too familiar with. As we’re learning more and more, the male-dominated comedy world is often not a safe place when it comes to reporting sexual misconduct. Internet outsiders briefly got a glimpse of this yesterday when stories broke about former Inside Amy Schumer writer Kurt Metzger, who went off on a demeaning Facebook rant in response to another comedian being banned from UCB due to sexual misconduct allegations. Metzger has since been fired. (Correction: He hasn’t officially been fired. We don’t really know what’s going on with Metzger, Schumer, or the show.) BuzzFeed also dove into comedy’s problem with sexual assault in detail through Katie J.M. Baker’s long piece, “Standing Up to Sexual Harassment and Assault in L.A.’s Comedy Scene.” The point is the comedy world is notoriously terrible when it comes to sexual misconduct. That knowledge paired with the rumors surrounding C.K. make being it confusing to be a fan of the comedian’s work.

Now any time a comedian, especially a male comedian, is accused of sexual misconduct, Bill Cosby comes to mind. The hardest part about the Cosby scandal is the fact he was able to get away with what he did for years because we as a society refused to believe that a performer who was so beloved was capable of sexual assualt. We were wrong. We don’t want what happened in the past to happen again. And that’s where the conflict arises. No one wants to be the person who brushes sexual misconduct allegations aside, but at the moment, there are no concrete allegations that have been made against Louis C.K. For now, there are just rumors as we wait for the truth to come out. Also, the creator is a difficult person for fans to abandon, especially now.

Even though you haven’t seen him lately, Louis C.K. has been killing it when it comes to 2016 comedy. His latest project, Horace and Pete, the brilliantly tragic webseries, is currently up for two Emmy nominations. Likewise, C.K. has been involved in two incredible FX comedies, Zach Galifianakis’ delightfully bizarre dramedy, Baskets (also nominated for an Emmy) and Pamela Adlon’s depressively hilarious Better Things, which will premiere in September. Louis C.K. is also responsible for bringing one of my all-time favorite comedians to mainstream attention, Tig Notaro. C.K. has used his influence in the industry not only to pull his friends up but to introduce some powerfully innovative voices into modern comedy. Hell, even the addition of his latest standup special, Louis C.K.: Live at the Comedy Store, to Netflix has helped legitimize independent distribution in a ground-breaking way. But it’s hard to fully enjoy all of these accomplishments as rumors about sexual misconduct, which C.K. has yet to directly address, float around.

This isn’t to say that the comedian’s work is perfect. C.K. has been heavily criticized throughout his career, from his cringe-worthy SNL monologue that incorporated racism and a child molestation joke to the episode of Louie that had undertones of rape (C.K. later defended the episode in a press conference). Louis C.K. has always been able to bounce back from these missteps based on the merit of his work. However, the sexual misconduct rumors surrounding the comedian are something far more serious than telling a bad joke on live TV.

So knowing what we know, or rather what we don’t know but have heard rumors about, is it OK to still be a fan of Louis C.K.? I genuinely don’t know the answer to this question. However, I do think it’s something that’s worth asking.