Former Vice President Joe Biden returned a $2800 donation from controversial comedian Louis CK, according to Time Magazine, preferring to send back the money than be associated with allegations of sexual impropriety that have dogged Louis CK since the advent of the #MeToo movement.
The development is intriguing given that Biden is now facing his own allegations of sexual impropriety stemming from his time in Congress.
Louis CK reportedly donated the maximum amount that the FEC allows for individual political contributions, $2800, on March 4th, after the Democratic field began to coalesce behind the more “moderate” Biden, and after Biden chalked up a number of decisive wins on Super Tuesday, pulling well ahead of his closest opponent for the nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
“CK’s career was upended in 2017, after several women came forward and accused of him of sexually inappropriate behavior, including masturbating in front of them without their consent, or masturbating while over the phone with them without their consent,” Vanity Fair reported. “CK, formerly a critically hailed comedian thanks to his genre-blending FX dramedy, ‘Louie,’ quickly admitted that the reports were accurate, saying he had ‘been remorseful of my actions.'”
CK has since become “less apologetic,” Vanity Fair says, resisting being canceled and returning to the comedy circuit, now with material skewering his troubles.
The Biden campaign did not give details as to why they sent Louis CK’s money back, but Vanity Fair points out that the reason is self-evident.
“It’s obvious why Biden’s campaign would want to distance itself from C.K., especially considering Biden has been facing his own sexual-misconduct allegations from multiple women. Biden, who is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has denied the claims,” they said.
Biden actually hasn’t spoken at length about the issue.
His accuser, a former aide named Tara Reade, says that Biden touched her inappropriately when the two were alone in his office in the mid-1990s. Reade allegedly told friends and colleagues about the attack at the time — contemporanous accounts that give her accusations something of an air of credibility. She has also filed a police report with the Washington, D.C., police department, even though the statute of limitations for prosecution of such a crime has long passed.
Biden’s allies have worked diligently to discredit Reade, even though Reade’s allegations seem at least slightly more credible than those leveled against then-Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, by a former classmate, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who said Kavanaugh tried to sexually assault her during a house party when the pair were in high school. Dr. Ford had no evidence of the attack and there were no contemporaneous accounts; Dr. Ford’s only witness, a friend by the name of Leyland Keyser, denied ever hearing of the incident.
Returning CK’s donation at least puts Biden at a distance from the #MeToo movement.
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