Earlier this week, the persistently woke comedienne Sarah Silverman made a surprise turn during an interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM in which she admitted to having previously consented to watching her longtime friend Louis C.K. do the dirty deed on himself several times.
“I know I’m going to regret saying this,” Silverman said. “I’ve known Louis forever, I’m not making excuses for him, so please don’t take this that way. We are peers. We are equals. When we were kids, and he asked if he could masturbate in front of me, sometimes I’d go, ‘F*** yeah I want to see that!’… It’s not analogous to the other women that are talking about what he did to them. He could offer me nothing. We were only just friends. Sometimes, yeah, I wanted to see it, it was amazing. Sometimes I would say, ‘F***ing no, gross,’ and we got pizza.”
At the height of #MeToo, Louis C.K. admitted to some shocking misconduct, which included having two women watch him masturbate. While Silverman did not exactly defend C.K.’s behavior, she downplayed the predatory aspect of it, portraying it as a failure on his part to understand the power he had over his victims.
“Once he became powerful, even within just his [comedy] community, he felt like he was the same person, but the dynamic was different and it was not OK,” Silverman said.
Silverman says that C.K. learned his lesson before The New York Times story, which noted that he reached out to some of the women to say sorry.
“Even in that article they talk about how he went on and tried to connect with some of these women to say he f***ed up and wronged them,” she said.”I’m not saying everyone should embrace Louis again. I believe he has remorse. I just want him to talk about it on stage. He’s going to have to find his way or not find his way.”
Her comments didn’t go over well with one of C.K.’s accusers, comedienne Rebecca Corry, who blasted Silverman on Twitter for defending a “predator.”
“To be real clear, CK had ‘nothing to offer me’ as I too was his equal on the set the day he decided to sexually harass me. He took away a day I worked years for and still has no remorse. He’s a predator who victimized women for decades and lied about it,” Corry said.
Silverman immediately apologized to Corry and conceded her point that C.K. simply “f***ed” with her.
“Rebecca I’m sorry,” she said. “Ugh this is why I don’t like weighing in. I can’t seem to do press 4 my show w/out being asked about it. But you’re right- you were equals and he f***ed with you and it’s not ok. I’m sorry, friend. You are so talented and so kind.”
Corry accepted her apology and lamented how her accusation against C.K. has caused a maelstrom of chaos in her life.
“Thank you. I know exactly how you feel,” tweeted Corry. “I can’t seem to live my life without getting rape & death threats, harassed & called a c**t regularly for simply telling the truth. I’m sorry your friend created this situation. We deserve to do our art without having to deal with this s**t.”