Five women have accused American comedian Louis CK of sexual misconduct, including masturbating in front of two female comics, according to a report by The New York Times.
“He abused his power,” one of his accusers told the paper. Four women were named in the report - Dana Min Goodman, Julia Wolov, Rebecca Corry and Abby Schachner - and a fifth woman spoke anonymously.
“The report came as CK prepared to premiere a new movie, I Love You, Daddy, about a television writer whose 17-year-old daughter is seduced by an older movie producer who is rumoured to be a paedophile,” The Guardian reports.
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The New York premier of the film, and a planned appearance by CK on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, were both cancelled at short notice in the hours before the New York Times published the allegations.
“Unsubstantiated rumours of CK's inappropriate behaviour among female comics had filtered into news reports in recent years, with comedians Tig Notaro and Roseanne Barr among those who previously called on CK to address the accusations,” Fairfax Media says.
Reaction has been swift, with TV company HBO announcing that CK would be removed from its upcoming “Night of Too Many Stars” comedy special, and that it was “removing Louis CK’s past projects from its On Demand services”.
A publicist for CK, Lewis Kay, told the New York Times the comedian “is not going to answer any questions” about the allegations.