Not long before the New York Times reported on accusations of sexual misconduct levied against Louis C.K. by at least five women, which the comedian later confirmed, fellow comic and former collaborator Tig Notaro had already spoken around some of the stories in previous interviews. Once the news finally broke in early November, however, the One Mississippi star began opening up in subsequent interviews about what she knew, and why she didn’t speak out against C.K. directly at the time. Notaro discussed this and other matters — including her “relief” — during Monday’s appearance on The View.
“It’s a huge relief,” she began when co-host Joy Behar brought up C.K., “to have him removed.” As for why she didn’t come forward sooner regarding the allegations against the One Mississippi executive producer, Notaro said they weren’t her stories to tell:
“I found this out, right after we sold the show, that this was happening. I started publicly trying to distance myself from him for almost two years now. When this all came out, even though I knew first-hand from people, it wasn’t my place to call out names. It’s somebody else’s story. It’s for them to directly speak about.”
Co-host Meghan McCain then asked Notaro whether or not the second season episode “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” which features a female character being forced to watch her male boss masturbate, was a “specific message” for C.K. Notaro said it was not intended to be, but her explanation of the episode’s origins remained just a damning, considering the post-Harvey Weinstein climate:
“Our entire writer’s room is all female, and every person in the room has had an experience with assault, abuse or harassment in some way. Every single one. There’s six [writers] and a female writer’s assistant. Every story on One Mississippi is based in truth, and it’s not necessarily my truth, but it’s somebody truth. Something somebody experienced, or knew of the experience happening, and we wanted to recreate that.”
“It’s not somebody interested in somebody,” Notaro concluded. “It’s power, it’s abuse and it’s disgusting.” As for McCain’s question regarding singling out C.K., Notaro said, “We wanted to send the message to everybody.”