Louis C.K. won his third Grammy for his 2020 comedy album Sincerely Louis C.K. on Sunday night. It was the disgraced comedian’s first award since a seres of sexual assault allegations came to light in 2017 in which five separate women accused him of masturbating in front of them.
Just as when C.K. was nominated back in November, there are plenty of folks who are understandably disgusted that, in under five years, C.K. could go from being exiled from the entertainment industry to winning a major award. But in light of the incident at the Academy Awards last week, people are drawing comparisons to the public outcry against Will Smith, particularly as many felt he should be forced to return his Best Actor Oscar after slapping presenter Chris Rock.
This is not to say that C.K. didn’t suffer fallout as well. Both FX and Netflix cut ties with the Louie star and he was likewise dropped or replaced from a handful of upcoming projects at the time. Given the fact that Smith was essentially forced to resign from the Academy, it seems extremely unlikely that he’ll be accepting another Oscar five years from now.
Obviously, the two incidents are markedly different. While C.K.’s apparent cancellation seemed pretty straightforward, there is a bit more nuance involved in Smith’s situation, whether or not you condone violence in any form. Still, it’s difficult not to see that the inherent hypocrisy in the ongoing reaction to Smith — who has had several projects put on ice following the incident — even as yet another cisgender white man seemingly proves to be “uncancellable.”
As such, Twitter lit up following C.K.’s win as people were quick to point out the apparent double standard.
“Louis CK winning a Grammy is some wild shit after all the shit this week,” tweeted stand-up comedian Cerrone Russell. “Good googly moogly the hypocrisy.”
“Louis CK just won a whole ass Grammy while y’all are either calling for Will Smith’s head or crying about cancel culture,” tweeted legal history expert Dr. Mia Brett. “There are no consequences for white cishet men.”
Out magazine staff writer Mey Rude asked why no one asked C.K. to step down from the recording academy “when he showed his dick to a bunch of women without consent.”
One user wondered where the public outcry was from white comedians such as Amy Schumer and Jim Carrey over C.K.’s big win, since both had publicly condemned Smith.
“Will Smith’s projects are getting cancelled left and right while Louis CK wins a Grammy. If Will Smith just ran on stage and jerked off on Chris Rock his career would be fine,” quipped comedian Drew Landry.
Aother user pointed out the “hilarious” irony of primarily white people demanding that Smith’s career be killed while C.K. wins an award.
However, discourse aside, we also shouldn’t forget C.K.’s victims, as countless others pointed out. Guardian columnist Moira Donegan wondered if the careers of the women have bounced back from the stigma from coming forward as nicely as C.K.’s has.
“Louis C.K. just won a Grammy, so I don’t want to hear any more whining about cancel culture,” tweeted political activist Brianna Wu. “Men can sexually prey on women, the victims can have their careers and confidence destroyed, it can all go public – and there will still be no real consequences.”
In a follow-up tweet, Wu also noted that women make up just about one-fifth of the Grammy vote, which puts things in unfortunate perspective. Incidentally, but also mostly unrelated, is that Chris Rock was also among the handful of comedians who C.K. thanked on his Grammy-winning album.