Nine years after Louis C.K. admitted he forced several of his female openers to watch him masturbate, Netflix has announced the once “canceled” comedian is headlining the Hollywood Bowl for this year’s Netflix is a Joke Festival. Louis C.K., who promised “to step back and take a long time to listen,” has been persona non grata in mainstream comedy distribution since apologizing for sexually harassing his co-workers in comedy clubs throughout his career. However, he hasn’t really done much work in the way of accountability or restorative justice, at least not publicly—unless you consider his 2021 Grammy-nominated special, Sorry, recorded at his sold-out Madison Square Garden performance, a public apology. Yeah, this is what we’re talking about when we say, “Cancel culture is real.”
In 2017, Netflix took C.K.’s admission pretty seriously and cut ties with the disgraced comedian. “The allegations made by several women in the New York Times about Louis C.K.’s behavior are disturbing,” Netflix spokesperson Karen Barragan told USA Today in 2017. “Louis’ unprofessional and inappropriate behavior with female colleagues has led us to decide not to produce a second stand-up special, as had been planned.” Apparently, there’s hope for Kevin Spacey yet because time heals all wounds, and now the prodigal son of admitting his abusive behavior on stage has returned.
On May 5, Louis C.K. will headline the Hollywood Bowl as part of the fest, and Netflix will release his brand new stand-up special, Ridiculous, globally this summer. This is all pretty unsurprising, considering Netflix has no compunction about working with openly racist, antisemitic, and Islamophobic comedians. (On that final note, Mark Normand reportedly got Netflix to say Muslims were “dangerous people,” which the company denied. It’s great working with these guys.) That’s to say nothing of the multi-million dollar transphobic bullhorn it gives Dave Chappelle. Still, it does seem like a larger shift that the streamer is willing to take on someone who admitted to sexually abusing women in The New York Times, behavior the company called “disturbing,” “unprofessional and inappropriate.” But after nine years, it’s time to stop worrying about the safety of Netflix’s performers for the sake of a couple of jack-off jokes. Maybe they’ll finally release I Love You, Daddy, while they’re at it.
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