Louis CK Wasn't Defending Daniel Tosh, Restores Faith in Humanity

Your comedy boyfriend Louis CK caused the stomachs of some of his female fans to drop precipitously last week when he sent what sure looked a lot like a supportive Tweet in the direction of Daniel “Release the Rape Hounds” Tosh. But it turns out it wasn’t what it looked like, as the comedian explained on The Daily Show last night. It was all a big misunderstanding.

The 43-year-old comedian who you kind of wouldn’t at all mind spooning with (you think you’re the only one who doesn’t kind of want to spoon him? Please. He’s catnip. Ladies talking secretively about how Louis CK’s whole deal is sexy is the new ladies talking secretively about how Rachel Maddow is totally sexy even though they’re into dudes. The club is called More Women Than You Think. You, or someone you know, is probably a member.) explained to Jon Stewart that in the aftermath of Tosh’s disastrously tacky response to a female fan’s heckling, he was far away from the internet melee on vacation in Vermont. When he sent what looked like a supportive Tweet, he did so from a position of blissful ignorance to the shit storm that he was about to parachute into. Before and after sending that single Tweet, he was largely offline.

Louis CK was diplomatic in how he explained Rapeocalypse, telling Stewart,

It’s also a fight between comedian and feminists, which are natural enemies, because stereotypically speaking, feminists can’t take a joke…And on the other side, comedians can’t take criticism because they’re big pussies. To one side, you said, if you don’t like the jokes, stay out of the comedy clubs. To the other side, you said, if you don’t like the criticism, stop googling yourself every 10 minutes… If somebody has the opposite feeling from me, I want to hear it so I can add to mine. I don’t want to obliterate their point… for me, any joke about anything bad is great. Any joke about rape, the Holocaust, the Mets… But I’ve read some blogs during this whole thing that have made me enlightened to things I didn’t know. This woman said how rape is something that polices women’s lives. They have a narrow corridor. They can’t go out late, they can’t go to certain neighborhoods, they can’t get a certain way, because they might get-That’s part of me now that wasn’t before.

And then Louis CK stood up and shat rainbows all over Jon Stewart’s desk.

Think Progress’s Alyssa Rosenberg notes that if it were almost anyone else, she’d be hesitant to believe them, but since Louis CK famously hates social media, it doesn’t seem too far fetched. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that his Team Shut Up, Tosh fans kind of want to believe him — after all, if Louis CK, famous for constant self-reflection, self-loathing, and social observation, can’t step outside of himself enough to attempt to empathize with people who are hurt by Tosh’s misogynist bully brand of comedy, then what hope do we have?

Anyway, you can resume your weird fantasy about running into Louis CK and falling in love now. No judgment.

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