A TikTok creator has gone viral over a video taking aim at the concept of “cancel culture” as it pertains to comedian Louis CK.
CK, full name Louis Székely, faced a public reckoning in 2017 after admitting to several accusations of sexual misconduct.
The Louie star subsequently returned to stand-up, and has performed in a number of large and famous venues on his recent tour.
Despite this, some people have described CK – who apologised for exposing himself in the presence of different women on multiple occasions – as a victim of “cancel culture”.
Podcast host and TikTok creator Talia Lichtstein shared a video on TikTok in which she describes the supposedly ruinous effects of “cancel culture”, while standing in front of an advertisement for CK’s sold-out show at New York’s 20,000-capacity venue Madison Square Garden.
“Can I just say something kind of controversial? But hear me out,” Lichtstein says in the tongue-in-cheek video. “Can we stop cancelling guys who are such wonderful, brilliant artists, over heresay.
“Like, women have stories of them being creepy, but nobody knows the real story, and yeah, sure, a couple people have the real story but OK, just cos we can tell that story, that guy never gets to work again?
“Like, even if he admits to it and he pays a settlement and he apologises, their career is f***ed forever. It’ll never reach the same level of success. They can’t sell the same number of tickets. They can’t do what they love, or purue their passion any more.”
“We ruin their lives. Like, literally, we’re ruining guys’ lives over this,” she adds, jokingly.
In the background, the sign reads: “Louis CK tonight sold out Madison Square Garden.”
Last year, one of the women to have accused CK of misconduct reacted to the comedian’s award win at the 2022 Grammys.
“There has been zero change in the way comedy is run,” said comedian Julia Wolov. “There are no rules. Nobody cares. That’s the message this sends. It really does. That’s the truth.”
