Louis C.K.’s ‘I Love You, Daddy’ Premiere Canceled Ahead of Anticipated New York Times Exposé
There’s probably never been a worse time than now for Louis C.K. to release his next film, I Love You, Daddy, a comedy about a older male Hollywood director accused of rape and pedophilia. In it, John Malkovich plays a director in his 50s (whom many critics have likened to a Woody Allen figure) who turns his eye towards C.K.’s character’s 17-year-old daughter (Chloe Grace Moretz). But releasing the film at a time when dozens of men in the film industry are being accused of sexual assault and harassment isn’t the film’s only looming problem. C.K. is expected to be the next name spotlighted for sexual harassment allegations.
Update: The Orchard is no longer releasing I Love You, Daddy following the multiple sexual harassment allegations made against C.K. in a New York Times‘ report.
Original story continues below.
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Variety is reporting that I Love You, Daddy‘s Thursday night premiere in New York City has been canceled. C.K. has also reportedly canceled an appearance on The Late Show tonight and been replaced by William H. Macy. Distribution company The Orchard explained the premiere cancelation as the result of “unexpected circumstances,” but Variety notes that C.K. is also the subject of a yet-to-be-published New York Times exposé focused on allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
There have been rumors around C.K. for years regarding sexual misconduct, and now they’re beginning to surface once again thanks to Tig Notaro’s interview with The Daily Beast back in August, and the Woody Allen-esque subject of I Love You, Daddy isn’t helping. Gawker originally ran a story back in 2015 with details of sexual misconduct, which seemed to point to a 2012 a blind item about a male comic who masturbated in front of women. Roseanne Barr mentioned those same rumors about C.K. in a Daily Beast interview from last year. Journalist Yashar Ali tweeted today that the Times has been working on a story about C.K. for weeks, expected to drop any day now:
C.K. was asked about the sexual misconduct rumors at the Toronto Film Festival by the Times, which he refused to talk about:
I’m not going to answer to that stuff, because they’re rumors. If you actually participate in a rumor, you make it bigger and you make it real. […] They’re rumors, that’s all that is.
Regardless of the premiere cancelation, I Love You, Daddy is still getting its original limited release on November 17, and set to go wide in the following weeks.