Comedian Louis C.K. has expressed his remorse after confessing the allegations of sexual misconduct against him are all true.
Five women came forward to accuse the funnyman of masturbating in front of them as part of a New York Times expose, published on Thursday (09Nov17) - the same night the New York premiere of the Horace and Pete star's new film I Love You, Daddy was abruptly cancelled.
Louis C.K. did not address the allegations at the time, but he has now issued a lengthy statement via his representative Lewis Kay apologising for his bad behaviour.
The statement, issued to the New York Post's Page Six, reads: "These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my d**k without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your d**k isn't a question. It's a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly."
"I have been remorseful of my actions," he continues. "And I've tried to learn from them. And run from them. Now I'm aware of the extent of the impact of my actions."
The disgraced actor goes on to reveal he has since realised that his misconduct has affected the women both personally and professionally: "There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for," Louis explains. "And I have to reconcile it with who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with. I wish I had reacted to their admiration of me by being a good example to them as a man and given them some guidance as a comedian, including because I admired their work."
The 50-year-old father-of-two concludes his message by acknowledging the "pain and anguish" his actions have caused to his loved ones, and reveals he is now planning to take a step back from the limelight and "take a long time to listen".
In the expose, comediennes Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov claimed the funnyman got "completely naked, and started masturbating" in front of them in his hotel room in 2002, while Rebecca Corry also alleged that Louis had asked her if he could "masturbate in front of me" while they were filming a TV pilot in 2005 - a story corroborated by former Friends star Courteney Cox, who was an executive producer on the show.
Meanwhile, shortly before Louis broke his silence over the scandal, distributors of I Love You, Daddy announced they had pulled the movie's 17 November (17) release and dumped the project.
The comedian has also been dropped from the upcoming HBO Night of Too Many Stars autism awareness special, which will air live next week (begs13Nov17), while Louis' new Netflix comedy special has also been scrapped in the wake of the controversy.
