The Biggest Bombshells About Louis C.K. in the New Documentary Sorry/Not Sorry

In 2017, six-time Emmy winner Louis C.K. was accused of sexual misconduct by five women in a shocking report by The New York Times.

Now, a new documentary, Sorry/Not Sorry, is pulling back the curtains on his alleged misconduct. The movie showcases first-person accounts from three women — Jen Kirkman, Abby Schachner, and Megan Koester — who have spoken out against the comedian's behavior over the years.

In the initial report, comedians Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov claimed that C.K. "proceeded to take all of his clothes off, and get completely naked, and started masturbating” while they were in his hotel room after their show at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2002.

Comedian Rebecca Corry alleged that C.K. "asked if we could go to my dressing room so he could masturbate in front of me" while filming a TV pilot in 2005, and writer Abby Schachner claimed she heard him masturbating through the phone during a 2003 call. A fifth, anonymous woman alleged that C.K. masturbated while she sat with him in his office while working on The Chris Rock Show in the late 1990s.

C.K. responded to the allegations with a lengthy statement in which he admitted that "these stories are true," but further alleged, "I never showed a woman my d--- without asking first." However, he said that he did hold "power" over the victims and "wielded that power irresponsibly."

At the time, C.K. was a respected stand-up comedian and actor. He was preparing for the release of his third feature film, which he starred in, directed and wrote, called I Love You, Daddy. But following the publication of the article, indie distributor The Orchard pulled the plug and star Chloë Grace Moretz told The New York Times that the movie "should just kind of go away, honestly."

The documentary touches upon these moments as well as C.K.'s shocking comeback – which saw him return to the comedy scene in 2018 with a controversial surprise appearance at the famed Comedy Cellar in New York City. He then embarked on a nationwide comedy tour and won a Grammy Award for his Sincerely, Louis C.K. special.

The documentary ends with a message reading, "Louis C.K. did not respond to requests to comment or participate in this film." He also did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment about the documentary.

Sorry/Not Sorry releases in theaters and on digital on July 12. Here are some of the biggest bombshells from the documentary.

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At the beginning of the documentary, television writer and producer Jen Kirkman opens up about working with C.K. on the animated sitcom Home Movies, which ran from 1999 to 2003.

Kirkman, who is also a comedian, recalls sitting next to C.K. on a flight to Boston – where he lived as a child – to record the show. She says they didn’t talk on the plane ride, but he offered her a ride once they landed.

While in the car, Kirkman claims that he "very vaguely started doing a tour of his sexual thoughts," saying stuff like, “That girl in that house had big t---." She says she wasn’t scared of his behavior at the time because she thought, "This is how comedians talk."

Later in the early 2000s, Kirkman says they were both living in Los Angeles and went to a bar after performing in the same show. She recalls C.K. saying something along the lines of: "I’d love to talk to you about your act, or something." The actress says they went upstairs to sit in a secluded lounge, where he allegedly asked her, "What if a guy asked you if he could jerk off in front of you?"

Kirkman claims she thought he was workshopping part of his comedy routine. "He’s asking me what I’d think of a loser who would ask a woman if he could pull his d--- out in front of them," she says of her thought process, before noting that she began "riffing" with him "about this absolute loser persona he was adopting in order to tell this joke."

But C.K. didn’t find the situation humorous. Kirkman claims he defensively responded, "What? I like to jerk off in front of people." She expressed shock at the situation and noted that they were in a public space.

At that moment, she says a friend came over and interrupted their conversation. C.K. then allegedly made an excuse and pulled out a photo, telling her friend that he was just showing her a picture of his daughter. "I knew from then on I didn’t like him. I didn’t want to be around him," she says.

Writer and comedian Megan Koester claims in the documentary that she knew of C.K.’s problematic behavior because "it was just basically an open secret in the comedy community."

The former Vice Magazine writer alleges that the comedian’s behavior was "habitual" and "had been happening for a series of years." She says that she was an "amateur" in the industry and was still privy to the stories. She adds, "If I know about this s---, everybody knows about this s---."

Kirkman also speaks about the widespread talk of C.K.’s sexual misconduct, recalling hearing stories about him behaving inappropriately with two women at a comedy festival in Aspen – an event which was later detailed by the alleged victims in the NYT report. As the "telephone game" took place, the actress began to hear excuses for C.K.'s alleged behavior, such as claims that it was a "party" and "everyone was doing their thing."

"I would say an open secret is the sort of thing in which people love engaging in discussion about it and love being horrified by it, but it's like at the end of the day, 'My hands are tied,'" Koester says.

From 2009 to 2012, C.K. starred in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation as the police officer and former boyfriend of Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope. Michael Schur, who co-created the comedy series with Greg Daniels, revealed in the documentary that he was aware of the comedian’s alleged predatory behavior when he invited him to reprise his role in season four.

"We had him on the show because whenever you ha -

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ve a big juicy guest spot, and this was a love interest for the main character, there's always like, well, get the biggest star you can," Schur says of C.K.’s casting. "And we took a different approach, which was like, let's just get the funniest person."

The producer and writer goes on to say that when they cast the comedian, the show was at the beginning of its second season and was not performing well. "I don't think he's the reason that we stuck around and survived, but he's one of them," he explains.  

"At some point, and I, again, don't remember when or how or who told me, but I started hearing a story of him in a hotel room, or something. It was vague and it was, sort of, confusing. There weren’t a lot of details. But I heard it then a bunch of times from different people. If his name came up, that was a thing that people would say," Schur claims.

When the idea floated of C.K. returning for another episode in the show, he says, "I kind of didn't do anything about it. We just had him back and I pretended like I didn't know. My attitude, when I look back on it, was, well, that's not my problem. Like, I didn't do that and that's something that happened somewhere else, and I don't know the details. I don't even know if it's true or not, so it's not my problem."

Schur returns to the topic later in the documentary and condemns his previous thought process.  "When the actual story broke, and it was not just that story, but like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, I was like, well, the fact that I thought it wasn't my problem is the problem. Like, that's exactly the problem is that everybody was treating this like it wasn't their problem," he says. "And it takes years of investigative journalism and the courage of dozens of women to step forward at the risk of their own sanity, health, safety and careers in order to make it not a problem anymore. Well, s--- like that is my problem."

The documentary was produced by The New York Times and features interviews from the three reporters behind the 2017 article — Melena Ryzik, Cara Buckley, and Jodi Kantor — all of whom also served as consulting producers on the movie.

In a harrowing scene, one of the reporters, Buckley, reads the message she sent to C.K.’s team to respond to the allegations. After detailing the accounts from the five women, she wrote to C.K., "The women we spoke to say that you have put them in an untenable situation, that they felt used by someone they saw as a gifted comic and a major figure in their field."

The reporter then tells the camera: "And we never got a reply." 

Soon after, they were informed that the New York premiere of C.K.'s film I Love You, Daddy was canceled ahead of the story being published. Additionally, he had canceled his planned appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Kantor adds, "What's nearly unique about the Louis C.K. story is that there is no factual dispute at the heart of this story."

While many took time in the documentary to condemn C.K.’s alleged actions and the way the public responded, one man outwardly defends the comedian's right to perform. Noam Dworman, who owns the famed Comedy Cellar club in N.Y.C., stands behind his decision to welcome C.K. to perform a surprise stand-up set roughly nine months after the accusations. 

"I knew at some point, I would have a predicament," Dworman explains. "Because I just knew he would want to come back. And it would be here where he’d want to come back here. And then the shit hit the fan. It was just nuts."

C.K. performed a 15-minute set to a sold-out crowd of roughly 115 people, according to The New York Times. The club owner told the outlet that one attendee called the club to object to his appearance.

"You can feel whatever you want about these things, but the idea that you have the right to impose on a private business who's employing a free person to perform in front of people who want to see him in a free country, that you feel that this is your business, I think that's very, very dangerous, and that is where I was really drawing my line," Dworman says.

At the time, several comedians opposed the comeback with Kathy Griffin writing on social media, "You know how many talented women and POC comics are knocking on doors trying to get some time in front of audiences or powerful people in this business? And Louis just gets to glide back in on his own terms? Gosh, does it payoff to be in the boys club..the white boys club."

Dworman went on to theorize about the disgraced comedian's Grammy win for best comedy album in 2022. "I believe he won the Grammy award because it's a secret ballot," the club owner says. "There is no way that the people who voted for him to win that Grammy would have done so if it was going to be reported in the papers their names as having voted for Louis C.K."

Comedian and actor Michael Ian Black had strong words to say about C.K.’s stand-up special Sorry, which was his second one released after the allegations. 

"He called his next special Sorry," the Inside Amy Schumer actor explains. "It’s just such a big middle finger, ya know?"

Black alleges: "And it’s like, who are you really giving that middle finger to? You pissed at all the people who got mad at you for jerking off in front of people. Why? Why are you mad at them?"

At this point in the documentary, The New York Times critic Wesley Morris spoke of the complicated relationship between artists and audiences. "We simultaneously want too much of our artists, but they also want too much from us," he says. "In some ways, they want to be thought of only as these people who make things, even though the thing they make is entirely predicated on what people they are, what kind of person they are."

C.K. went on to release his comedy-drama Fourth of July and two specials – one of which was filmed in front of a sold-out audience at N.Y.C’s Madison Square Garden.

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