Comedian Louis C.K. was blacklisted from Hollywood in 2017. He admitted to several incidents of sexual misconduct at the time, including accusations that he masturbated in front of female comics. A number of appearances and projects featuring C.K. were canceled soon after, in which he essentially lost millions of dollars. Now Bill Burr and Bill Maher say that it’s time to uncancel Louis C.K.
The two were discussing that, at a certain point, they felt like C.K. had been punished enough. As noted on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, they figure that he lost somewhere around $50 million according to C.K. himself. They further discuss the #MeToo movement, and how they believe there is “no rhyme or reason” for the punishments delivered.
Here’s how their discussion began:
“I mean, don’t get me started on [Louis C.K.]. Isn’t it time everyone just went: ‘OK, It wasn’t a cool thing to do, but it’s been long enough and welcome back,’” Maher said. “Enough! I mean, for Christ’s sake, it’s not the end of the world. People have done so much worse things and gotten less. There’s no rhyme or reason to the #MeToo-type punishments.”
Bill Burr explained how much Louis C.K. lost:
“They took $50 million, I think they punished him,” Burr responded. “[#MeToo] started off with something everyone could agree on, and then quickly it just spun out of control.” Burr explained that “cancel culture got to the point of where it was, ‘I don’t like some of the topics in your stand-up act,’ right? That’s when it got weird.”
At which point, however, they started to disagree. Burr continues to say, “Cancel culture – it’s over. No one cares anymore.” This is where Maher disagrees:
“That’s so not true,” Maher responds, “Either one of us could get canceled in the next two minutes.”
It’s certainly a discussion worth having. After all, there are plenty of celebrities that have been “uncanceled.” At the same time, however, there are those that remain canceled to this day. Of course, whether or not Louis C.K. should be uncanceled for his own misconduct is a completely separate discussion.