Why People Are Already Upset At Louis CK's New Movie, I Love You, Daddy

It's safe to say that Hollywood is experiencing a crisis of conscience at the moment. The industry is currently grappling with serious allegations of sexual harassment and assault by one of its most powerful figures. It's a watershed moment that has been a long time coming. Women as famous as Angelina Jolie and as normal as the friends and family on your Facebook feed are coming out about the sexual-based harassment and/or assault they've dealt with.

It's within this context that Louis C.K. has dropped the trailer for his newest film, I Love You, Daddy. The premise of the film? A young aspiring actress (played by Chloë Grace Moretz) finds herself in the orbit of a renowned director who is plagued with rumors of pedophilia.

Where have we heard this story before? Oh right, it sounds exactly like Woody Allen.

Allen isn't the only person dogged by allegations of sexual assault. Rumors of sexual misconduct have followed C.K. around for years. Last week, he told the New York Times that the allegations are not true. "They're rumors, that’s all that is," he told reporter Cara Buckley.

It's extremely questionable for this film to debut right now, in the midst of the current environment. It's even more suspect when you consider Louis C.K.'s own alleged history. Fans questioned this unfortunate Woody Allen/Louis C.K. connection.

Is this a case of art imitating life? Is this C.K.'s convoluted way of confirming or denying the rumors? Who is this movie made for?

Sam Adams at Slate ponders that last question, writing that "I Love You, Daddy is likely to squick some people out whether or not they’re aware that C.K. has himself been accused of nonconsensual sex acts. But it’s especially queasy when viewed in that light. C.K.’s Glen idolizes Malkovich’s auteur, much as C.K. reveres Woody Allen, and one way of looking at C.K.’s movie is as a kind of Manhattan answer record, extending and undermining that film’s romantic portrait of a romance between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl." We agree that the subject is extra icky. It almost makes us wonder if Louis C.K. is trying to convince himself that is alleged sexual misconduct wasn't that bad, or that it's in his past, with this film. Whatever his reasons, it's clearly motived by something other than a passion for filmmaking.