In his newest HBO stand up special 'Oh My God', Louis C.K. perpetuates the myth that all pedophiles are gay men. While he does not use those exact words, he implies it clearly.
The video is available below the fold.
While I have enjoyed his stand up comedy for years now, despite some cringe worthy moments from time to time, I have never felt compelled to stop watching any of his other routines or shows. Perhaps I should have, but tonight he just went too far.
At the 11:25 mark he begins talking about the nice place he lives at in New York and how his building has a courtyard with a fountain. The fountain, he says has little marble boys pissing in it (a la the Manneken Pis of Brussels). "All fountain sculptors are pedophiles" he says, and then he does his impression of someone asking "can you make me a fountain", and in his best 'gay voice' says "I'll get started right away". This 'gay' sculptor excitedly starts to work and ends up creating a group of "little boys pissing on the face of a greek god that looks like him a lot". That was when I turned it off.
While we cannot expect stand up comics to be without flaws, I would hope that someone who's as famous and well regarded as Louis C.K. would know how damaging that kind of bullshit is. He should know better and it is very disappointing to me that he either doesn't know or doesn't care. This is the very kind of myth that is cited as a reason to deny gays equal rights, especially in regards to adoptions, but also in any employment involving children.
Just so I'm clear, I am not shocked as much as I am disappointed. This was not a small club appearance where comedians sometimes get caught trying to push the edge and end up going over it, this was a well thought out, written down, rehearsed, intentional part of his performance that he should have known was offensive and would serve to perpetuate a very destructive myth. Shame on him, shame on him.
Below is the video. The segment in question starts at 11:25.