“SNL” “Weekend Update” host Michael Che is the latest comedian to weigh in on Louis C.K.’s surprise stand-up set.
Che said that the online reaction and outrage over C.K.’s appearance had to do with how important fame and celebrity is to observers.
“omg! Can you believe that guy went on with his life?! Yes Megan. I can.” Che said in an Instagram story Tuesday night. Che then responded to an article written about C.K. and potential #MeToo comebacks, saying that what drives most of the articles he reads on similar subjects is a desire and value of fame.
“A lot of what I read says C.K. shouldn’t get to be a ‘famous’ comedian anymore. Because to them, he’s still winning. Isn’t that strange?” Che said. “Meaning he can be shamed, humiliated, lose millions of dollars, all of his projects, lose the respect of a lot of his fans and his peers, but since he can still do a comedy set for free at a 200 seat club a year later, it means he got off easy. THAT’s how coveted fame is.”
Che responded to a commenter saying he hasn’t spoken to C.K. or any of his accusers, but he believes that “free people should have the right to speak and make a living.”
He continued with an analogy to the shock experienced online when a celebrity commits suicide.
“When a famous person kills themselves, they always say, ‘Why? He had everything,’” Che wrote. “Just because it looks to you like someone is ‘getting off easy’ cause they still have the perks you would kill to have, doesn’t make it so.”
Check out Che’s complete full Instagram story, as screencapped below:
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In November 2017, C.K. was accused of sexual misconduct by five women. Among the accusers in a New York Times article were comedy duo Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov, who said they were invited by the comedian to his hotel room after their show at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, in 2002. According to the report, when they arrived at his room, C.K. asked Goodman and Wolov if he could take out his penis.
C.K. released a statement shortly after the story was published, saying, “these stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was OK because I never showed a woman my d- without asking first, which is also true.”
The comedian performed his first stand-up set since he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women at the Comedy Cellar on Sunday night and did a 15-minute set.
The unannounced show was “typical Louis C.K. stuff” with jokes about racism, waitresses tips, parades, etc. according to club owner Noam Dworman. “It was very ordinary for him,” he said, describing the audience response as “sustained applause … It was a good reception. He went through an everyday list of jokes.”
Michael Ian Black was among those who defended C.K., while Kathy Griffin condemned C.K.’s privilege to perform as part of a “boys club.”