The 50-year-old comedian canceled his movie premiere in advance of 'The NY Times' expose.
Louis C.K. is the latest celebrity to face multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
The 50-year-old comedian is at the center of a The New York Times expose where five women claim he either asked to masturbate in front of them, or masturbated in front of them without their consent.
While the accusations in the Times date back to the 1990s, media speculation surrounding C.K.'s behavior started in 2012. C.K. has repeatedly refused to address rumors even as they've gained more momentum in recent years.
As for the Times article, C.K.’s publicist, Lewis Kay, told the newspaper in an email on Tuesday that “Louis is not going to answer any questions." ET has also reached out to the comedian.
In light of the report, here is an extensive timeline detailing all the instances when the five-time Emmy winner has been accused of sexual misconduct as his star status rose from writer on Late Night With Conan O'Brien and The Chris Rock Show to creator of Louie and stand-up comic capable of selling out Madison Square Garden eight times.
March 2012: Blind Item
Five years ago, Gawker released a blind item alleging that a comedian -- which they did not identify at the time -- forced two female comics to watch him pleasure himself in his hotel room after the Aspen Comedy Festival.
In March of that year, Doug Stanhope, C.K.'s friend, claimed in a Facebook message that he was the unidentified comedian in Gawker's article, though many of his followers still believed that the blind item was about C.K.
January 2015: Louis C.K. Addresses Sexual Misconduct in Louie Episode
C.K.'s work -- from his standup and his FX show to his latest film (we'll get to that later) -- has often addressed the topic of masturbation and sometimes even sexual misconduct.
On a 2014 episode of Louie, a scene was brought into question where C.K.'s character, Louie, wakes his friend, Pamela (Pamela Adlon), who has been babysitting his daughters, and forcibly tries to make her stay in his apartment and kiss him.
At the 2015 Television Critics Association press tour, C.K. and Adlon addressed criticism that the scene received. “Sometimes, you put something out there and it gets a different reaction,” he said (via The Wrap).
"To me, it was like a tussle," he added. "I’m pulling her and she’s pulling me away. We even thought it was funny when we tried it."
Adlon countered, adding, "When we got through the scene, I said, 'I think we might be in trouble. Someone’s going to be mad.'"
May 2015: Gawker Claims Their Blind Item Was About Louis C.K.
Nearly three years after Gawker posted a blind item about an unidentified male comedian who forced two women to watch him masturbate, the website released an article alleging that C.K. was the male comic they were referring to in its 2012 story.
Gawker further claimed that it was told similar stories about C.K. after the blind item was published, but noted that the comedian and his rep still refused to comment on the rumors.
June 2016: Louis C.K. Addresses Sexual Harassment Rumors for the First Time
During an interview with Vulture, C.K. addressed the Gawker blind item that was allegedly about him.
"Well, you can’t touch stuff like that," he said. "There’s one more thing I want to say about this, and it’s important: If you need your public profile to be all positive, you’re sick in the head."
C.K. added, "I do the work I do, and what happens next I can’t look after. So my thing is that I try to speak to the work whenever I can. Just to the work and not to my life."
June 2016: Roseanne Barr Chimes In on Sexual Harassment Allegations
In an interview with the Daily Beast, Roseanne Barr brought up the sexual harassment rumors surrounding C.K. "It’s Louis C.K., locking the door and masturbating in front of women comics and writers," she said. "I can’t tell you -- I’ve heard so many stories. Not just him, but a lot of them."
Barr later released a statement to the Daily Beast via email, noting, "These allegations [against Louis C.K.] have been leveled and talked about for years. I do not have firsthand knowledge, though have heard women make these allegations."
C.K.'s reps did not respond when asked to comment.
May 2016: Louis C.K.'s Friend, Jon Stewart, Is Asked About Sexual Harassment Rumors
On David Axelrod’s podcast, the former host of The Daily Show was asked to address the sexual harassment rumors about his friend.
"All I can tell you is I’ve worked with Louis for 30 years and he’s a wonderful man and person and I’ve never heard anything about this," Stewart said. "We’ve all known Bill Cosby was a prick for a long time. Yeah, sorry."
August 2017: Tig Notaro Advises Louis C.K. to Address Allegations
During an interview with the Daily Beast, the comedian -- whose show, One Mississippi, is executive produced by C.K. -- strongly suggested that C.K. give a statement regarding the sexual harassment rumors about him. "I think it’s important to take care of that, to handle that, because it’s serious to be assaulted,” she noted. "It’s serious to be harassed. It’s serious, it’s serious, it’s serious."
Notaro also claimed that she had "an incident" with C.K. and they haven't talked since.
September 2017: Louis C.K. Again Refuses to Address Sexual Harassment Rumors
During an interview with The New York Times, C.K. was asked about why he did not comment on the allegations when pressed by Vulture in 2015.
“I’m not going to answer to that stuff, because they’re rumors,” he said. “If you actually participate in a rumor, you make it bigger and you make it real."
As for whether the reports were not real, he responded, "No. They’re rumors, that’s all that is."
As for Notaro's remarks, C.K. said, "I don’t know why she said the things she’s said, I really don’t. I don’t think talking about that stuff in the press and having conversations over press lanes is a good idea."
That same month, C.K.'s movie, I Love You, Daddy, premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. The film is about a successful television writer (C.K.), whose daughter (Chloe Grace Moretz) becomes the interest of an aging filmmaker (John Malkovich) with an appalling past.
Nov. 9, 2017: Louis C.K. Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Five Women
Just hours before the aforementioned New York Times story broke, the premiere of the I Love You, Daddy was abruptly canceled as well as C.K.'s appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
In the Times article, comedians Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov recall an alleged incident with C.K. at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, in 2002. The women claim C.K. invited them to hang out in his hotel room at which point he asked if he could take out his penis, which they initially thought was a joke.
“And then he really did it,” Goodman tells the Times. “He proceeded to take all of his clothes off, and get completely naked, and started masturbating.”
Comedian Rebecca Corry also alleges in the article that C.K. asked to masturbate in front of her while the two were working on a television pilot in 2002. Another comedian, Abby Schachner, tells the Times that she could hear C.K. allegedly masturbating during a phone conversation that quickly turned "unprofessional and inappropriate."
“I definitely wasn’t encouraging it," Schachner said. You want to believe it’s not happening."
A fifth woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Times that C.K.allegedly masturbated in front of her in his office when she worked with him on The Chris Rock Show in the 1990s. While she claims she went along with it at the time, she said, "It was something that I knew was wrong. I think the big piece of why I said yes was because of the culture. He abused his power.”
Nov. 10, 2017: Louis C.K. Issues Statement, Is Dropped by Management and FX
C.K. addressed the allegations of sexual misconduct against him on Friday in a lengthy statement admitting "these stories are true." (Read the full statement here.) Just hours later, FX Networks and FX Productions issued a press release announcing they were cutting ties with the comedian.
"Today, FX Networks and FX Productions are ending our association with Louis C.K. We are cancelling the overall deal between FX Productions and his production company, Pig Newton," they said in a statement to ET. "He will no longer serve as executive producer or receive compensation on any of the four shows we were producing with him – Better Things, Baskets, One Mississippi and The Cops."
"Louis has now confirmed the truth of the reports relating to the five women victimized by his misconduct, which we were unaware of previously. As far as we know, his behavior over the past 8 years on all five series he has produced for FX Networks and/or FX Productions has been professional," the statement continued. "However, now is not the time for him to make television shows. Now is the time for him to honestly address the women who have come forth to speak about their painful experiences, a process which he began today with his public statement."
"FX Networks and FX Productions remain committed to doing everything we can to ensure that all people work in an environment that is safe, respectful and fair, and we will continue our review of all of these productions to ensure that was and is the case," the statement concluded.
C.K.'s publicist, Lewis Kay, meanwhile, took to Twitter to reveal that he has dropped C.K. as a client.
"As of today, I no longer represent Louis C.K.," he wrote.
3 Arts also revealed they would no longer be managing C.K.
“We have terminated our relationship with Louis C.K. We are committed to ensuring a safe and secure environment for our staff, clients and the community at large,” 3 Arts said in a statement to Deadline. “We are doing a full internal review regarding this situation and are taking additional steps to strengthen our processes and procedures while engaging with our staff to address any concerns about harassment or abuse of power. This behavior is totally unacceptable in all circumstances and must be confronted and addressed.”
Hours later, Universal Pictures and Illumination said in a statement to ET that they "have terminated their relationship with Louis C.K. on The Secret Life of Pets 2."
ET has reached out to C.K., Stewart and Notaro regarding the Times' recent report.