During the Nov. 13 episode of his WTFpodcast, Marc Maron recalls confronting Louis C.K. about his alleged sexual misconduct years ago, revealing that C.K. lied to him.
Detailing the confrontation, Maron explained that, several years ago, he got word of rumors of the comedian forcing women to watch him masturbate. After confronting C.K. about what he had heard, Maron recounts C.K. telling him it’s “not real” and that the allegations were “just a rumor.”
Maron said: “Sadly, I knew what most people knew: There was a story out there, I guess going back several years, there were unnamed people in the story, it took place in a hotel room in Aspen. It was always out there, but then it would pick up momentum at different times. And I would ask him about it. I would say, 'This story about you forcing these women to watch you jerk off, what is that, is that true?' He goes, 'No, it’s not true. It’s not real. It’s a rumor.'"
After Maron asked the comedian whether he would address the situation, C.K. insisted he didn’t want to “give it life.” “And I would say, ‘Well, are you going to address it somehow? Handle it? Get out from under it whenever it shows up?’" Maron said. Adding that C.K. simply said, "‘No, I can’t, I can’t do that. I can’t give it life, give it air.’ That was the conversation.”
Maron explained that C.K.’s denial of the allegations shed light on an impending problem in the entertainment industry; Maron believes that there has been no place for women to feel safe to tell their story.
Maron continued: “So when it comes to believing women, I want to believe women, but in this particular instance, there was no one named in that [Louis C.K. blind item], there was no place for women to go tell this story, there were no women attached to it. I didn’t know their names until Friday. So I believed my friend. It’s just that the environment enabled the dismissiveness of it. How do I put this? The work environment, the social environment makes it difficult for people to come forward and be heard, to be listened to, to be believed, and for action to be taken around that. It is pushed aside, it is dismissed, it is framed as an annoyance or an embarrassment, it is used against people, it is used as a threat, that is the structure that exists in life.”
Maron then explained that the "power dynamic" existing in today's society is difficult to break. “It’s hard to understand that that power dynamic is real and it exists, because things have been the way they are for a long time,” Maron said.
Attempting to relate on a personal level, the podcaster then recalled his college professor kissing him unexpectedly, to which the podcaster admits he froze.
“It’s scarring, even if it’s mundane. What I went through was mundane — there were no cocks involved — but it’s something women go through all the time. It was a disrespect of personal boundaries.”
In a statement released Friday, C.K. admitted the allegations were true saying, "I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen."
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.