Louis CK admits to sexual misconduct in statement, expresses regret

For the first time since a bombshell New York Times report came out on Thursday revealing a history of gross sexual misconduct, Louis CK has issued a statement. Unlike many other men accused over the past several weeks, he is choosing to own up to his role and confirming some of the stories that are online.

Read part of the comedian and Louie star’s full statement below:

These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my d–k without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your d–k isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me

The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.

I have been remorseful of my actions. And I’ve tried to learn from them. And run from them. Now I’m aware of the extent of the impact of my actions. I learned yesterday the extent to which I left these women who admired me feeling badly about themselves and cautious around other men who would never have put them in that position.

I also 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. I didn’t think that I was doing any of that because my position allowed me not to think about it.

There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for. And I have to reconcile it with who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with.

CK goes on to ‘apologize’ to the productions of Better Things, Baskets, The Cops, and One Mississippi — shows he executive-produces, for his actions putting a black cloud over them and negative attention they do not deserve.

It would be nice to give CK credit for coming forward, taking responsibility for the terrible things that he did, and offering up some sort of apology. Yet, is this the point we are at now as a society? Are we really interested in giving someone a pat on a back for an apology as opposed to not committing the act in the first place? At this point we’ve become so horribly conditioned to people doing an unspeakable thing and either denying it, blaming the accuser, or doing something else abhorrent. It makes even a halfhearted apology look like a grand gesture.

Since the report FX has opened an investigation into CK, HBO is distancing themselves from his work, and Netflix decided to cancel an upcoming stand-up special. (Photo: FX.)