In fact there is a diary on the rec list right now that gives the man mad props for a “well written” apology. And sure, it is well written. The man is a comedian for god’s sake, he knows how to play to his audience. And sure, it sounds heartfelt on first reading, but once you really dig into the substance of his apology, you begin to realize that it is more of a play to the audience, a way for him to salvage what little is left of his now crumbling career. Viewed from that lens it is a self-serving effort that does nothing to actually convey remorse. What it does do, however, is feign a heartfelt attitude toward his victims in a ploy to garner sympathy.
So I have decided to take apart the apology and analyze it paragraph by paragraph to demonstrate exactly what I am saying
Paragraphs 1 and 2
"I want to address the stories told to the New York Times by five women named Abby, Rebecca, Dana, Julia who felt able to name themselves and one who did not. These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my dick 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 dick 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. Lets start with the line “These stories are true.” Like I said, Louis knows how to work a room. What he has learned from watching people like Weinstein and Cosby is that they never actually admit to their deeds. Louis, on the other hand, knows that sympathy among the media and general population requires being up front and honest about his actions. At any rate, who the hell apologizes for something that they didn’t do. That approach to bad and often criminal behavior has always mystified me. What the hell is the point of an apology when you are not even admitting to what you are doing? Louis knows that that doesn’t jive with critical thinking and logic skills. For his apology to be believable, he must first admit to his crimes in, at least, the court of public opinion. Its all part of giving this flaming bag of dogshit credibility. Secondly, this whole bullshit about him learning later in life that power might make people agree to things that they do not necessarily want to do. I mean, come on Louis. I was a fan of yours for a fucking long time man. I know you are smart. There is NO FUCKING WAY IN HELL you did not know your power as a comedian and stage presence may have played a role to your victims reluctant acquiescence to watch you jerk yourself off. Your comedy is often very biting social commentary wrapped in quasi social analysis. I know you know how to critically think and analyze your own behavior and the power differential between you and the people around you. It doesn’t fucking take “until later in life” to find that out. By the way, your were what 31 when this happened (my age, a man grown), don’t tell me you hadn’t already learned this lesson. You did. This line is purely self serving shit. I have been remorseful of my actions. 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. I learned yesterday the extent to which I left these women who admired me feeling badly about themselves and cautious around other men who would never have put them in that position.Okay so this mess of a fucking paragraph doesn’t have any logical consistency whatsoever. You “have been remorseful for your actions” and yet you only learned yesterday that whipping your fucking penis out and forcing women to watch while you masturbate made them feel badly about themselves. Oh, and notice the soft “made them feel badly about themselves”. Obvious attempt at downplaying his role in this whole fucking disgusting story. But I digress. You say that you have been remorseful about this, implying in the past before sometime yesterday when these stories caught fire, and yet you only find out yesterday that you “made them feel badly about themselves”. You must’ve known it in the past, or else the past remorsefulness you mention in your first sentence is moot. If you don’t know you’ve harmed anyone, how the hell can you feel remorse over it? You had to have known, well fucking before these stories were made public, that your actions caused harm. And not only did you say nothing, a few months ago you were openly DENYING any responsibility for this. More proof of self serving garbage in this steamer of a non-apology.
I also took advantage of the fact that I was widely admired in my and their community, which disabled them from sharing their story and brought hardship to them when they tried because people who look up to me didn't want to hear it. I didn't think that I was doing any of that because my position allowed me not to think about it. There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for. 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. Your position allowed you not to think about it? What the ever loving fuck Louis? You JUST SAID in your previous paragraph that you had felt remorse for this. How can you feel remorse if your position allowed you not to think about it? And how the hell does your position allow you not to self-analyze and say to yourself “you know, what I did back there could possibly have cause harm, and potentially, have destroyed that young womans life”? What, because your on stage all of a sudden your morals and values evade you because of the MASSIVE POWER a comedian has? Yeah fucking right bro, you knew what you were doing was wrong IN THE MOMENT IT HAPPENED and yet said NOTHING until this point because you were caught. Fucking duh. Nothing revolutionary about this garbage apology so far. Sounds like republican shit wrapped in a nice pretty bow. The hardest regret to live with is what you've done to hurt someone else. And I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought on them. I'd be remiss to exclude the hurt that I've brought on people who I work with and have worked with who's professional and personal lives have been impacted by all of this, including projects currently in production: the cast and crew of 'Better Things,' 'Baskets,' 'The Cops,' 'One Mississippi,' and 'I Love You Daddy.' I deeply regret that this has brought negative attention to my manager Dave Becky who only tried to mediate a situation that I caused. I've brought anguish and hardship to the people at FX who have given me so much The Orchard who took a chance on my movie and every other entity that has bet on me through the years. I've brought pain to my family, my friends, my children and their mother. I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen. Thank you for reading."Oh no, poor Louis is hurting too. All of his “power” is quickly circling the drain. He just can’t fucking help but try to cast himself as a victim of his own behavior. And yes, its subtle cause he wraps it all in an “apology” to his manager. But believe me that line right there plays a critical role in getting him off the hook. He is mentioning this so we sympathize. He is reminding us he is being consequenced for his actions and seeking desperately for us to say “hasn’t he learned his lesson”? Judging from the apology, Louis, you have learned nothing from this whole experience.
***
You know, I was a huge fan of his up until this shit caught fire. Not only was his comedy quite funny (and I admit I have not seen a lot of his previous work, but what stand up and roles I saw him in he was a riot) it was biting and topical. I agreed with a lot of his personal politics. Hell, I even thought I would like to meet him one day, pick his brain, stuff like that.
None of that fucking matters
What I see here is PR and damage control. And its disgusting for him to wrap it all up in this sweet, progressive sounding, “I am gonna take responsibility for this” apology. All throughout this steaming pile of garbage he seeks to duck responsibility, feigns ignorance, and plays to the audience’s sympathy all to stop his rich and powerful world from crumbling around him. Not only does this do nothing to convince me he is actually sorry, I would go as far to say that it is revictimizing those women and that he was better off saying absolutely nothing at all about this matter.
If I were him, I would say this:
“What I did was wrong, I knew it at the time, I know it now. Using my power and prestige to get women to acquiesce to watching me masturbate was unconcionable then and it is now. I will now take a step back from the public spotlight in respect of the victims and their families. I apologize for, and deeply regret my absolutely disgusting actions and hope that the victims and their families find it in their hearts to one day forgive me.”
Short. Sweet. To the point.
THAT would have impressed me. This self serving nopology disgusts me.