FX CEO Reveals How Louis C.K. Could Return to Network

FX chief John Landgraf told reporters what would have to happen in order for disgraced comedian Louis C.K. to return to the network.

“I think that would depend on the woman who came forward and the question of whether there was a feeling of redress and reconciliation,” Landgraf told reporters at the Television Critics Association Press Tour Friday, reports Entertainment Weekly.

Landgraf again said nothing C.K. is accused of doing happened during the eight years C.K. worked for the network.

“But I think this a moment of time about women whose stories have been unable to be told being able to come out and speak,” Landgraf said. “I think they have to set the tone right now — ‘they’ collectively, those women and others who are coming forward.”

Landgraf also praised Pamela Adlon, who appeared in Louie and co-created Better Things with C.K. After C.K. was fired, Adlon took full control of the series, starring and directing the series. Despite the C.K. connection, Adlon was nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Emmy for the second consecutive year.

“What’s remarkable in all of this is the tone has remained remarkably consistent,” Landgraf said. “I think it’s gotten more locked in and specific. She’s come into her own and is increasingly taken control of everything you can see a sharpening of its point of view. It’s thrilling to see her running everything in season 3. She’s a monster talent.”

FX severed all ties with C.K. and his Pig Newton production company in November, after five women accused him of sexual misconduct. The network cancelled his acclaimed series Louie and FX Productions cut his name from Better Things, Baskets and Amazon’s One Mississippi. A TBS animated series C.K. was working on called The Cops was cancelled.

In January, FX said its internal investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by C.K. while he worked for the network.

“We didn’t find any issues or complaints of any kind during the eight years we worked together,” Landgraf said at the January TCAs.

In November, five women told The New York Times that C.K. exposed himself and masturbated either in front of them or over the phone. C.K. later issued a statement confirming the allegations, and has not been seen publicly since. The release of I Love You Daddy, a film C.K. wrote and directed, was also cancelled.

“These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my d– without asking first, which is also true,” C.K. said in November. “But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your d— isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.”

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