Sarah Silverman Breaks Her Silence On Louis C.K.: “I Love Louis, But Louis Did These Things”
"I just keep asking myself, can you love someone who did bad things?"
Sarah Silverman used this week’s episode of I Love You, America to deliver an emotional statement on her friend Louis C.K.’s sexual misconduct, saying she’s spent the past week “asking myself, can you love someone who did bad things?”
“I wish I could sit this one out,” she said, “but I’m going to address the elephant masturbating in the room. One of my best friends of over 25 years, Louis C.K., masturbated in front of women. He wielded his power with women in fucked-up ways, sometimes to the point where they left comedy entirely.”
She spoke of the struggle of coming to terms with a close friend admitting to such unconscionable conduct.
“I could couch this with heartwarming stories of our friendship and what a great dad he is, but that’s totally irrelevant, isn’t it,” she said. “I love Louis, but Louis did these things. Both of those statements are true, so I just keep asking myself, can you love someone who did bad things? Can you still love them?”
“I can mull that over later, certainly, because the only people that matter right now are the victims. They are victims, and they are victims because of something he did.”
“So I hope it’s okay if I am at once very angry for the women he wronged and the culture that enabled it, and also sad, because he’s my friend. But I believe with all my heart that this moment in time is essential. It’s vital that people are held accountable for their actions no matter who they are.”
Silverman’s statement comes a few days after fellow comedian Marc Maron, also a long-time friend of C.K., gave a 20-minute statement on his podcast where he expressed similar feelings, saying “he’s my friend and it’s a difficult position to be in. I certainly can’t condone anything he did, there was no way to justify it or defend it, there’s no way to apologise for him about it.”
Despite her conflict about it, Silverman made clear that the issue is a serious one, and that victims should be prioritised. “This recent calling out of sexual assault has been a long time coming,” she said. “It’s good. It’s like cutting out tumours — it’s messy and it’s complicated, and it is gonna hurt, but it’s necessary and we’ll all be healthier for it.”
“It sucks, and some of our heroes will be taken down, and we will discover bad things about people we like, or in some cases people we love.”
You can watch the full segment below.