On his podcast, Club Random, Bill Maher has voiced his support for the return of comedian Louis C.K. to mainstream entertainment. C.K. was caught up in a sexual misconduct scandal in November 2017 after allegations were made by five female colleagues in a New York Times article alleging that he had masturbated in front of them. C.K, responding to the report, admitted, “these stories are true” and added, “there is nothing about this that I forgive myself for”.
As a result of the allegations, C.K. had the premiere of his film I Love You, Daddy cancelled and his ties with the US FX channel were cut after they conducted their own investigation. Similarly, he was also fired from The Secret Life Of Pets 2, and had his work with HBO removed from the channel’s streaming services. After taking a break from stand-up, he made a return in 2019 and since then, has self-released a series of specials, as well as co-writing and directing the independent film Fourth Of July, which premiered in 2022.
Maher believes enough time has passed since the incident, stating, “Isn’t it time everyone just went, ‘ok, it wasn’t a cool thing to do, but it’s been long enough and welcome back’. Enough! for Christ’s sake, it’s not the end of the world”. He went on to say that C.K should be “welcomed back,” adding, “People have done so much worse things and gotten less. There’s no rhyme or reason to the #MeToo-type punishments.”
Bill Burr, a guest on Maher’s podcast, replied to Maher’s remarks saying, “they took $50million, I think they punished him”. Meanwhile, Maher recently revealed that he will be ditching a two-hour interview he did with Kanye West, calling him a “very charming anti-Semite”
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