Marc Maron says Louis C.K. lied to him about sexual misconduct rumors

Marc Maron claims Louis C.K. lied to him when he asked if the reports of Louis C.K. masturbating in front of women were true — and Maron was quick to believe him initially.

On the Nov. 13 episode of his podcast, WTF, Maron recounted a previous conversation with the comedian in which he confronted Louis C.K. about one particular story several years ago that supposedly took place in an Aspen hotel room.

“Sadly, I knew what most people knew: There was a story out there,” starts Maron, “And I would ask him about it. I would say, ‘This story about you forcing these women to watch you jerk off, what is that? Is that true?’He goes, ‘No, it’s not true. It’s not real. It’s a rumor.’ And I would say, ‘Well, are you going to address it somehow? Handle it? Get out from under it whenever it shows up?’ ‘No I can’t, I can’t do that. I can’t give it life, give it air.’ That was the conversation.”

In the podcast, Maron also acknowledges that the fact that Louis C.K.’s misconduct was widely known and dismissed for so long highlights a larger issue in the industry: that there’s no place for women to report on their mistreatment and that there’s a real power dynamic.

“So I believed my friend. It’s just the environment that enabled the dismissiveness of it. How do I put this? The work environment, the social environment makes it difficult for people to come forward and be heard, to be listened to, to be believed, and for action to be taken around that,” Maron continues. “It is pushed aside, it is dismissed, it is framed as an annoyance or an embarrassment, it is used against people, it is used as a threat, that is the structure that exists in life.”

This past Thursday, a New York Times report detailed stories from five women who were allegedly sexually mistreated by Louis C.K. On Friday, the comedian released with a lengthy statement confirming that the allegations after denying any claims of sexual misconduct last year.

Listen to Maron’s podcast here.