Stand-up comedian Jen Kirkman is denying that a comedian she toured with in 2015, who made her uncomfortable, was Louis C.K., as many have assumed over the years.
“There are rumors out there that Louis takes his dick out at women. He has never done that to me,” Kirkman said in an interview with the Village Voice. “I never said he did, I never implied that he did.”
C.K. has been at the center of sexual harassment allegations for years. In 2012, Gawker ran a blind item that stated a male comedian, which many thought sounded like C.K., was forcing women to watch him masturbate.
“This guy didn’t rape me, but he made a certain difficult decision to go on tour with him really hard,” Kirkman said on an episode of her weekly podcast, “I Seem Fun,” which has since been deleted. “Because I knew if I did, I’d be getting more of the same weird treatment I’d been getting from him.”
Kirkman did add that if any woman wanted to come forward with evidence, she’d be happy to hear it.
“Sometimes there’s nothing there. I think this might be a case of there’s nothing there,” she said. “If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and if any women want to come forward and say what he’s done, I’ll totally back them, because I believe women. But I just don’t know any.”
The allegations have been active in the news thanks to a Daily Beast interview with “One Mississippi” star Tig Notaro, who had choice words about C.K., his involvement with her show, and the allegations.
“I don’t know why Tig is talking about this stuff,” Kirkman added in the interview.
Notaro commented on the assault allegations, saying she has heard the rumors and that C.K. needs to address them.
“I think it’s important to take care of that, to handle that, because it’s serious to be assaulted,” Notaro said. “It’s serious to be harassed. It’s serious, it’s serious, it’s serious.”
In 2016, Roseanne Barr told the Daily Beast that she has heard stories of C.K. “locking the door and masturbating in front of women comics and writers.”
In response, C.K. affirmed that he wasn’t going to address rumors.
“I’m not going to answer to that stuff because they’re rumors,” C.K. told the Times. “If you actually participate in a rumor, you make it bigger, and you make it real.”