That Time Doug Stanhope Took the Blame for Louis CK

Stanhope took the hit for C.K. after a Gawker story detailing a comedian’s sexual misconduct

In 2012, when speculation ran rampant that a Gawker blind item about a comedian’s gross sexual misconduct was about Louis C.K., C.K.’s friend Doug Stanhope posted something unexpected on Facebook: the item was really about him.

A New York Times report about C.K. describes an incident that closely tracks the one detailed in Gawker’s report, which has raised even more speculation that Gawker was calling out C.K. at the time.

Which begs the question: what gives, Stanhope?

Turns out, he was joking.

Stanhope, a friend of C.K.’s who has appeared on his FX show “Louie,” posted a statement to Twitter saying that the tip off should have been his claiming to be a comic described as “our nation’s most hilarious… critically cherished sitcom auteur.”

Shortly after, Stanhope’s manager chimed in to put a finer point on things:

In the 2012 Gawker piece, titled “Which Beloved Comedian Likes to Force Female Comics to Watch Him Jerk Off?,” the site wrote that “our nation’s most hilarious stand-up comic and critically cherished sitcom auteur adds a thrilling twist to his onanistic escapades: He traps unsuspecting women in his hotel room and makes them stick around until he’s done.”

A few days after the story was published, Stanhope took to Facebook to not only share the piece, but also claim to be the mystery comedian. “Gawker put this story out about me without using my name, as if I’d care,” Stanhope wrote.

Fans soon flooded the post’s comments section to say they were pretty sure the comedian was C.K.

The 2012 Gawker story cited anonymous sources. On Thursday, comedians Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov told the New York Times on the record of a creepy encounter that sounded remarkably similar to the one described by Gawker. The Times also included accusations against C.K. made by three other women.

You can see Stanhope’s Facebook post below.

Doug Stanhope Facebook

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