Gaby Hoffman says she’s still friends with Louis CK as she decries cancel culture
Controversial comedian admitted to accusations of sexual misconduct in 2017
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Gaby Hoffman has said that she’s still friends with the controversial comedian Louis CK as she decried cancel culture for being “hugely problematic”.
In an interview with The Telegraph, the former child star and Girls actor, 42, was asked about her relationship with different male actors she’s worked with who are now deemed controversial – including CK, having played his love interest in the 2012 series Louie.
In 2017, CK admitted to sexual misconduct accusations of masturbating in front of multiple women. He was briefly boycotted by fans and dropped by his TV network FX but returned to comedy less than two years later.
Hoffman, speaking about her thoughts on cancel culture, said that CK is a “human being with flaws” but we are all “complicated human beings with a lot going on, and we fail and we make mistakes”.
“Louis is a friend. Not a close friend, but you know, I had a good personal experience working with Louis,” said Hoffman.
“I think everybody has the right to feel how they feel and say what they have to say about experiences they’ve had. I also think that we are dynamic, complicated human beings with a lot going on, and we fail and we make mistakes.
“And there’s redemption and there’s recovery. Louis is a human being who has many flaws, as we all do. And I don’t feel the need to distance myself from him for actions that were problematic.”
When CK admitted to the misconduct accusations and expressed regret for his behaviour, HBO severed ties with him and pulled the comedian’s specials from its on-demand service. The New York premiere and the release of his new film I Love You, Daddy were both cancelled.
Hoffman added that “cancel culture nonsense is hugely problematic”, and criticises the way it doesn’t allow for sitting “in the discomfort of the middle” or having conversations in a civil and understanding way”.
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Elsewhere in the interview, Hoffman addressed her relationship with Jeffrey Tambor, the actor who left the Amazon series Transparent in 2018 after facing allegations of sexual harassment, which he described as “utterly untrue”.
Hoffman played the on-screen daughter of Tambor’s character, a transgender woman named “Moppa” Maura Pfefferman, in the series.
Speaking about her relationship with Tambor, Hoffman said she has a “great deal of love” for the actor, and that his behaviour doesn’t change how she defines him.
“If he were to walk into the room right now, I would embrace him with everything I’ve got,” she said “Was there bad behaviour? Apparently so. Does that define who he is for me completely? No.”
Hoffman will be appearing in Netflix’s forthcoming thriller series Eric, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch. In it, the pair play a mother and father living in 1980s Manhattan when their nine-year-old son, Edgar, goes missing on the way to school.
The actor admitted that already being a mother – to a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son – has allowed her to step into the role and give her much “greater and more immediate access to that state of fear and grief” that her character experiences.
Eric is released on Netflix 30 May