Deals collapse, management dumps him

Louis CK has been ostracised by Hollywood as fallout from  his admission of sexual misconduct grows.

Last night, the comedian admitted reports in the New York Times about his behaviour towards female comedians, masturbating in front of some of them.

In a statement he admitted he abused his power and his standing in the comedy community, but said that now: ‘There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for…  I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought on them.’

However his mea culpa has not stopped the backlash, and a fresh stack of planned projects and partnerships tumbled like dominos overnight.

In a flurry of new developments:

• CK has been dropped from a sequel to last year’s animated hit The Secret Life of Pets, where he voiced the lead character, a Jack Russell terrier named Max, Universal Pictures said.
• The TBS network suspended production on an upcoming animated comedy The Cops, which CK co-created and was due to star in.
• After initially promising to review the situation, the FX Network severed its ties with the comedian. In a statement, the broadcaster said: ‘We are cancelling the overall deal between FX Productions and [CK’s] production company, Pig Newton. He will no longer serve as executive producer or receive compensation on any of the four shows we were producing with him – Better Things, Baskets,  One Mississippi  and The Cops.’ FX’s production company was making The Cops for broadcast on TBS.
•  His long-time manager Dave Becky dropped him as a client. Becky had been accused in the original New York Times article of helping silence CK’s victims– although the manager, who also represents Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Amy Poehler denied threatening anyone over the claims. The company he works for, 3 Art Management, said CK’s behaviour ‘is totally unacceptable in all circumstances’.
• His publicist Lewis Kay also severed his ties with the comedian, writing on Twitter: ‘As of today, I no longer represent Louis CK’.
• And the APA Agency, which had represented his comedy touring business, also broke off relations.

In their statement, FX said: ‘Now is not the time for him to make television shows. Now is the time for him to honestly address the women who have come forth to speak about their painful experiences, a process which he began today with his public statement.’

Previously, Netflix cancelled a planned stand-up special from CK;  HBO dropped his shows from their on-demand service  and axed him from a comedy benefit to be broadcast next weekend; and his new film, I Love You, Daddy was pulled from release by distributors The Orchard.

According to Forbes magazine,  CK made $52million (£40million) in the year up to June 1, 2017. 

The financial magazine estimates that the cancellation of the Netflix deal could cost him around $15million; the FX deal about $5million a year and the TBS deal about $1million a year.

But it said the overall financial cost to his career would be almost impossible to estimate.

Published: 11 Nov 2017