"Can you love someone who did bad things?" That was the query Sarah Silverman posed a year ago when her longtime pal, fellow comic Louis CK, got caught in the #MeToo maelstrom after admitting he'd masturbated in front of women. On Monday, on Howard Stern's SiriusXM show, Silverman said Louis CK had also masturbated in front of her when they were younger, but with her permission, per Decider. "I've known Louis forever, I'm not making excuses for him," Silverman told Stern. "He asked if he could masturbate in front of me, sometimes I'd go, 'F--- yeah, I want to see that!,'" adding, per People: "It was like science." Other times, "I would say, 'F---ing no, gross,' and we got pizza." She explained that when Louis did gain power in the comedy world, "he felt like he was the same person, but the dynamic was different and it was not OK" to do such things.
Silverman, who said she hasn't spoken with Louis CK in a few months and conceded she wasn't comparing her masturbation interactions with him to the women he harassed, said she believes her friend has "remorse" and should get back on stage and talk about what happened. "He's going to have to find his way or not find his way," she says. Many on Twitter weren't having Silverman's explainer—including Rebecca Corry, one of the women who accused Louis CK of sexual misconduct in a 2017 New York Times article. "He took away a day I worked years for and still has no remorse," Corry tweeted Monday. "He's a predator who victimized women for decades and lied about it." Silverman's response: "Ugh this is why I don't like weighing in," along with an apology to Corry and an acknowledgment "he f---ed with you and it's not ok." (Louis CK is starting to make the comedy club rounds again.)