Comedian Louis CK has issued a statement verifying the accounts of women who said he masturbated in front of them.
“These stories are true”, Louis CK said in the statement.
A New York Times report this week that Louis CK had masturbated in front of multiple women made the funnyman the latest entertainer embroiled in a wave of sexual harassment allegations against powerful entertainers.
Within a day of the New York Times story, Louis CK released a statement saying the accusations against him were true.
In his statement, Louis CK also acknowledged that his status as a towering and respected figure in comedy likely helped to silence victims.
“The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly”, he said.
“I took advantage of the fact that I was widely admired in my and their community, which disabled them from sharing their story and brought hardship to them when they tried because people who look up to me didn’t want to hear it”.
