Louis CK: How Saturday Night Live joked about the four-time host
The comedian has faced allegations of sexual misconduct from five different women, which he said were true in a statement, apologising for his actions
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The topic of sexual misconduct hit close to home for Saturday Night Live this week, as four-time host Louis C.K. now faces multiple allegations.
Though the show brought most of its focus on the accusations levied at the Republican Senate nominee in Alabama, Roy S. Moore, it did take a few shots at the comedian. The latest edition saw Girls Trip's breakout star Tiffany Haddish step in as host, who confessed in her opening monologue that she was called on to discuss a few "hot topics", including sexual harassment.
Though she didn't name C.K., she launched into a segment called "Tiff's Tips", where she said: "Listen, fellas, listen. If you got your thing-thing out and she's got all her clothes on, you're wrong. You're in the wrong. Wait until she takes her own clothes off, then pull your thing-thing out."
A longer examination arrived during Weekend Update, where co-host Colin Jost began by telling New Yorkers the unforgiving winter weather and fact "everyone you've ever heard of is a sex monster" - accompanied by a graphic of C.K., Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, and Moore - were enough reasons to stay indoors. Of C.K., he said: "What's next — it turns out the guy who always jokes about masturbating wasn't joking about masturbating?"
Welcoming on new character "Claire from HR", played by Cecily Strong, Jost was given a quiz on how to best handle workplace relationships and consent. In what constituted a thinly veiled reference to the allegations against C.K., Claire offered three options on how to handle workplace romances: inform HR, "lock her in a room and make her look at it", or "bully her out of the entire industry".
During the show's cold open, which saw Mike Pence (Beck Bennett) attempt to convince Roy S. Moore (Mikey Day) to drop out of the Alabama Senate race, Pence commented: "Even I heard about Louis C.K. and I'm not allowed to watch TV, I'm only allowed to listen to it."
Later on, Kate McKinnon's Jeff Sessions emerged, ending the segment with a soliloquy delivered to a stuffed possum named Papa. "There’s so many men out there, acting like monsters. Mr. Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, the president. Daddy, has this been happening forever? Have I both fostered and benefited from a culture of systemic oppression? No? Well, that’s a relief," Sessions mused.
Five women within the comedy industry came forward to allege that C.K. had pressured them to either watch or listen as he masturbated. The comedian said in a statement that the allegations against him are true and apologised for his actions.
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