Disgraced American comedian Louis C.K. recently announced that he is staging a comeback by doing a multi-city tour across the United States. The comic had previously admitted to misconduct with at least five women.
According to Fox News, C.K. has been keeping relatively under the radar since 2017 when he was accused of sexual misconduct at the height of the #MeToo movement. After a handful of unpopular attempts to get back on stage and do comedy, the 53-year-old announced on Wednesday that he’s embarking on a tour that begins at New York City’s Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on August 13 and 14.
“Hello Person that you are being right now, I am writing to you today because I am going to be touring around the United States of America, performing stand-up comedy in theatres in several different cities,” C.K., whose real name is Louis Szekely, said in an email announcing the tour.
His website states that the tour is slated to end on December 11 in Boston, Mass. after he hits roughly 30 cities across the country, performing multiple shows in places like Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Portland, Minneapolis, Kansas City, San Diego and more. Also included in his email was a pledge to comply with the COVID guidelines for audiences at live venues in each state he visits. He concluded the email by writing that he’s looking forward to seeing people “as I tell some rather impolite jokes and stories.” This announcement comes as his first major city tour after being accused in 2017 by multiple women of masturbating in front of them without their consent.
A news outlet published an article at the time in which five women came forward and told similar stories about the comedian and noted that he used his clout as one of stand-up comedy and TV’s top names to create a power dynamic in which they felt they could not refuse him and maintain their careers. C.K. admitted as much in a lengthy statement he penned shortly after the article came out in which he admitted the allegations were true.
“These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was O.K. because I never showed a woman my d— 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— isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly,” he wrote at the time.
Back then, many criticized C.K.’s response as being too self-serving. As per Fox News, he attempted to stage a quiet comeback at clubs around New York City, but faced a poor reception and landed himself in more hot water with a set in Long Island in which he mocked survivors of the Parkland shooting.
