Comedian Sarah Silverman revealed that she allowed Louis C.K. to masturbate in front of her in an interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM Monday.
Sarah Silverman told Stern that she sometimes, though not always, consented to Louis C.K. taking out his penis and masturbating while she watched.
“I’m not making excuses for him — please don’t take this that way. But we are peers, we’re equals, so, you know — when we were kids and he asked if he could masturbate in front of me, sometimes I’d go, ‘Fuck yeah, I wanna see that!'” Silverman said.
The Hulu talk show host also said that this was not the same as what Louis C.K. did to other women, because he wasn’t in a position of power over her and that she consented when he did it.
Louis C.K. admitted to masturbating in front of women without their consent in November 2017.
“These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true,” he said. “But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick 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.”
The 51-year-old left the public eye following his admission, though he suddenly returned unannounced in August to perform at a New York City comedy club, a performance for which he reportedly earned a standing ovation.
Some comedians defended the Louis star’s standup return. Michael Ian Black tweeted, “Will take heat for this, but people have to be allowed to serve their time and move on with their lives. I don’t know if it’s been long enough, or his career will recover, or if people will have him back, but I’m happy to see him try.”
However, many others were enraged by C.K.’s surprise return. Comedian Dan Telfer said that Louis C.K. should “get the fuck offstage.”
Several others had similar sentiments.