"Louis CK was accused of pulling out his penis and masturbating in front of women, causing untold trauma," I must admit, upon first hearing the news, I felt sorry for myself.
I assumed, because of the current #MeToo climate, this news would compel CK to disappear from our lives and take his comedy along with him, which is perhaps the most real thing I've ever seen on television.
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Shortly after the reality of his actions sunk in, I suddenly realized that even for someone like me who openly identifies with his brand of humor, the comedian lost a little something. The more one thinks of the sex act, the more one suffers from secondhand embarrassment. To masturbate in front of "consenting" women who either thought he was joking or froze and were too afraid to say no to the comedy giant when he asked if he could pleasure himself in front of them? That's not cool, to say the least. Really.
Two years ago, five women came forward accusing CK of lewd behavior in an exclusive article in The New York Times. It is likely that CK performed the same act in front of many other women, who refused to speak up. But surely there is something defiant about a man who is accused of such acts selling out halls around the world – three of them in Israel – in such a short time after this news broke. It is almost as if nothing ever happened at all.
In fact, he seems like a stronger and more confident comedian now. Granted, he's still neurotic and messed up, but in a charming and enlightening way. But do we really need to see him scratching at the bottom of our souls just so he can earn his redemption? Isn't it all a bit unnecessary? After all, we only live once and maybe we don't need to see the shady behind-the-scenes side of show business.
Instead of expecting our cultural heroes to follow a neat trajectory after they fall from grace to consist of coming forward with a spiritual and physical makeover, we should accept them as they really are: tired, worn out, drained of everything except the talent that brought them to the top of the game in the first place and blissfully aware of the embarrassing errors they make along the way.
