Proving once again that “cancel culture” isn’t real, white men are quick to get a pass for just about anything, and that a lot of people were way too eager to rush to a “post-#MeToo” era without grappling with the culture permeating every inch of the entertainment industry, let alone the rest of society—Louis C.K. just won a Grammy.
C.K. won the Best Comedy Album award Sunday night for his “comeback” special, “Sincerely Louis CK.” Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, and Marilyn Manson were all also nominated in various categories, just to really drive home the idea that the Recording Academy voters wanted to send a message that complaints about homophobia, transphobia, sexual assault and other forms of misconduct simply will not be tolerated.
This is C.K.’s first special since he admitted to a habit of masturbating in front of female comedians without their consent in November of 2017. (And as a reminder, he did admit to doing that after multiple women went on the record with the New York Times, meaning these are not “allegations,” they are admitted facts.)
I’m sure a lot of people will say that four and a half years is long enough for C.K. to have earned a shot at redemption but in that time, he hasn’t actually worked to earn anything. He started doing surprise comedy sets after less than a year and announced his official tour a year after that. He has never apologized or expressed any sense of remorse for making women feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, and unsafe in their shared industry. He’s spent the last few years using his sets to make jokes about things like the existence of nonbinary people and the survivors of the Parkland school shooting.
In this very special that he won the Grammy for, he makes multiple jokes downplaying his actions. Here’s a horrifying recap of part of it, courtesy of Variety:
C.K. then makes a racist and misogynistic comparison to women having sex and slaves singing while they were forced to work.
“It’s kind of like a Negro spiritual. It’s sort of similar. So to assume that she likes it is like if they heard slaves singing in the field and you’re like, ‘Hey, they’re having a good time out there,’” he says.
He also addressed why he liked to masturbate in front of women.
“I like jerking off, I don’t like being alone, that’s all I can tell you. I get lonely, it’s just sad. I like company. I like to share. I’m good at it, too. If you’re good at juggling, you wouldn’t do it alone in the dark. You’d gather folks and amaze them,” he says.
Throughout the profanity-filled special, C.K. makes jokes about necrophilia, pedophilia, terrorism, people with disabilities, the Holocaust and other touchy subjects, much to the audience’s amusement. In one joke about ordering sushi, he also puts on a stereotypical Japanese accent.
So sure, in terms of actual time, one could argue that four and a half years is long enough to have earned redemption. But that’s not what this was. Redemption wasn’t asked for, let alone earned. And the Grammy voters made the active decision to reward that.
(image: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Bob Woodruff Foundation)
