Louis C.K. Attempting To Restart His Career, Protests Planned By Opponents

Louis C.K. wants to restart his career. Many people have other ideas.

By Tristan Zelden | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Louis C.K.

Louis C.K. is booting his career back up again. He announced a nationwide tour in the United States, starting with two shows on August 13 and 14 at Madison Square Garden. The tour will comply with any regulations for safety regarding the pandemic as his 2020 tour was shut down because of COVID-19.

Allegations lingered in the shadows about Louis C.K. for years until it all came to light in 2017. Women had come forward about how the standup comedian had exposed himself and forced them to watch him masturbate over the course of years; some of the incidents were a decade old. This led to a cancellation of his FX series Louie, HBO removed his work from its platform and another project that was in the works at the time, all projects with Netflix, and his movie I Love You, Daddy with Chloe Grace Moretz (Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising) was pulled from release. Now, the announcement of Louis C.K. going on tour has caught a lot of attention and people protesting his shows.

Rockford, Illinois, Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson and the local newspaper, Rockford Register Star, published an article that took a stance against Louis C.K. performing a set at the Coronado Performing Arts Center. The managing company for the venue, SMG, was criticized for letting a comedian who admitted to making women who looked up to him as a mentor watch him masturbate. The article demands that SMG cancels the show that it should not have booked in the first place.

Indiana film critic Matt Hurt took to Twitter to address people defending Louis C.K. as some people think that if someone takes punishment, they should find redemption. Hurt had a thread arguing that the comedian should not be allowed back into the comedy scene where he “exploited his position” to use women by forcing them to watch him expose himself.

New York Times contributor and co-founder of Two Scoops Network, Kelsey Caine, took to Twitter to respond to Louis C.K.’s attempted comeback. She called out any comedian who opens for the sexual predator; then they should block her. If not, then if she finds out, then she will block them. She also said that anyone who needs to open for any “sex offender to be your big break” then she and them “don’t have anything in common.”

Author Saira Rao tweeted that Louis C.K. going back on tour proves that white men can’t be “canceled.” There is some truth to that as he performed sold-out shows last year, three years after the allegations led to him facing some consequences after his years of abusing his power.

Louis C.K. is not the only one to regain his career as Kevin Spacey got a role for a movie despite also having light shed on him as a sexual predator the same year as the standup comedian. Spacey is set to have a small role as a detective in the film The Man Who Drew God, which is fittingly about a case involving a pedophile. The actor also avoided charges for the accusations.

Louis C.K. will also go on an international tour in 2022. He will have shows in countries like Ukraine, Germany, Denmark, and Romania.