Late-night’s predominantly white male hosts proved to be “woefully ill-equipped to deal” with Louis CK

The Daily Beast

“When you benefit from the same system that allows Louis CK to thrive, or when you laughed off the allegations like Jon Stewart—something he had to apologize for this week—who will take you seriously when you lash out at Louis CK?” wrote Ira Madison III, in an article published shortly before Al Franken’s sexual harassment scandal broke. “It was relatively easy for late-night to make jokes about Cosby, perhaps because they were from a different generation than him, his star had already fallen quite a bit, and because, well, they’re not black. It’s easy to make jokes when you’re an outsider, when the target isn’t someone ingrained in your life, when your success doesn’t mirror the success they’ve also enjoyed. There are plenty of R. Kelly jokes that late-night hosts have in their repertoire. Louis CK jokes, not so much.” He adds: “It’s why a diverse array of voices in late-night is so vital these days. Everyone who’s not a straight white male are the ones who’ve found themselves under attack this year, yet there are precious few people who can speak to that experience on late-night TV.”