Why Is Alec Baldwin Forgiven But Louis CK Isn't?

Jim Treacher Substack ^ | 4 June 2024 | Jim Treacher

[Rummyfan]

On April 8, 2017, a few months before Louis CK’s career went off a cliff, he hosted Saturday Night Live for the fourth and probably final time. He did a pretty good monologue, starting each chunk of jokes with an edgy take but then winning over the crowd.

It was good. It was Louis CK.

(I think I remember The Chainsmokers? I don’t think I remember The Chainsmokers.)

Early 2017 was a really good time to be that guy. His critically acclaimed FX series Louie had brought his comedy to a wider audience. He’d won several Emmys, a few Grammys, and a couple of Peabody Awards, and was a Golden Globe nominee. He was a frequent talk show guest, and he was even a presenter at the 2016 Oscars.

It was only Best Documentary Short Film, but still. The Oscars, man. Louie had made it! After 30 years in comedy, at last he was legitimately famous. Everybody loved him. Well, a lot of people loved him.

Also on that same SNL episode was Alec Baldwin, still doing the bizarre, unfunny Trump impression he had started doing six months before, when it was ridiculous to imagine Trump could actually win. Lorne Michaels kicked the far superior Darrell Hammond to the curb, and the audience was stuck with this famous movie star who just could not nail the impression.

Baldwin kept going with it, though, apparently out of spite. Which is one of the personality traits Baldwin and Trump share.

[Rummyfan]

I did like Louis C K 's show Louie. But then it came out he was a major perv along Harvey Weinstein lines ... which was quite at odds with the good father he played in his show.

[rktman]

Because arik barwin has a reality TV show starting soon.

[TonyinLA]

Did Louis CK shoot a woman point blank?

[Bullish]

Maybe Louis C K doesn’t donate much money to democrats and make an ass of himself over leftist garbage. I sure know Baldwin does.

[Rummyfan]

Baldwin shot a woman on the set of a movie, and next month he’ll stand trial for involuntary manslaughter.

Which makes it the perfect time to announce his latest project!

Hey, remember when Mike Brady shot somebody?

That’s right: Alec and Hilaria Baldwin are doing a TLC reality show, which is set to premiere in 2025. If he’s not in jail, I guess? I don’t know how that works.

Apparently this is not a joke.

[Rummyfan]

“You know who won’t have their own family reality show? Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer and young mom who Baldwin accidentally shot and killed on the set of ‘Rust’ in 2021.”

[nickcarraway]

That’s a ridiculous question What did Alec Baldwin do that they wouldn’t like?

[nickcarraway]

That’s a ridiculous question What did Alec Baldwin do that they wouldn’t like?

[FLT-bird]

I stand behind Alec Baldwin.

I sure as hell wouldn’t want to stand in front of him.

[rbg81]

I liked that show for a while. But then some of the episodes got really disgusting and perverted.

[yesthatjallen]

"His critically acclaimed FX series Louie had brought his comedy to a wider audience."

I watched a couple episodes. I can testify there was no comedy on that show.

[logi_cal869]

Paywall.

That’s all folks. /s

[higgmeister]

I have never watched Louis CK because I can't stand him and never could from the first moment I saw him try to be funny and failed epically.

I still can watch "The Hunt for Red October" even though I cannot stand Arik Barwin.

[TangoLimaSierra]

I never watched Louis CK after he made fun of Sarah Palin’s baby boy with Down’s Syndrome.

[supremedoctrine]

you’re way off base calling him “a major perv along Harvey Weinstein lines”-—only superficially-—he had NO power to ruin or stall the careers of the women (all of them comics themselves) who he wanted to masturbate in front of. He didn’t/couldn’t threaten them with anything except the embarrassment of watching him do it in the same room ,even as they no doubt told him they’d rather not.

[x]

Baldwin looks like DeNiro in the picture.

If America forgave Baldwin, it’s because he had his pants on when he killed that lady — and right now in America it’s more permissible to kill a woman than to show her your schmeckie.

[Liz]

In March 2016, Louis C.K. sent an email to those subscribed to his mailing list which was critical of the 2016 presidential race.

C.K. stated he hoped for a conservative president but likened Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. He labeled Trump an “insane bigot”, also adding, “He’s not a monster. He’s a sad man.”

C.K. later referred to the email as “irrational”. But he clarified to Stephen Colbert in April 2017 that Trump is not “some new kind of evil” but rather “a gross, crook, dirty, rotten, lying sack of shit”, to boisterous approving applause from the Late Show audience.

---

In March 2020, C.K. donated to the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign. However, the campaign said that it has refunded the $2,800 donation from C.K. Neither Biden nor C.K. has released statements regarding the matter.

C.K. is on the record as having voted for the Democratic Party presidential candidate in the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 United States presidential elections.

[Right Brother]

He is a lefty prick.