For the first time since being hit by the #MeToo movement, in which several female comedians accused him of sexual misconduct, comedian Louis C.K. returned to the stage this past Sunday. The surprise performance at the Comedy Cellar in New York left the internet grappling with how to digest C.K.’s comeback. Did he spend enough time in hiding after masturbating in front of numerous women? Is his reputation tarnished forever, or is it kosher for him to return to the stand-up scene? Can C.K. ever repent for his sins?
Jewish comedian Michael Ian Black thinks he can. On Tuesday, Black tweeted that people should be allowed to “serve their time” and “move on with their lives.”
“The #metoo movement is incredibly powerful and important and vital,” Black tweeted. “One next step, among many steps, has to be figuring out a way for the men who are caught up in it to find redemption.”
Black, 47, must’ve forgotten about the upcoming Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur. Known as the Day of Atonement, Jews fast for 24 hours and atone for all wrongdoings committed over the past year. If they truly repent for their sins, as the story goes, their names can be inscribed into the “Book of Life” for another year.
In the presumably unintentional spirit of Yom Kippur, comedian Jenny Yang responded to Black’s call for forgiveness with a Twitter thread on how abusers can *actually* atone for their sins.
Hey Michael. If you want steps for redemption. I wrote this out just for you and anyone who sincerely asks WHAT CAN AN ABUSER DO TO ATONE?
This thread is just a start. #MeToo https://t.co/1CPPnOMjg7 https://t.co/lY7LzDZcp9
— Jenny Yang 👲🏼👲🏼👲🏼 (@jennyyangtv) August 28, 2018
“So you’ve admitted to sexually assaulting comedians in a work culture where fellow people of power took actions to keep the victims not working and quiet about the offense so that you could make millions and keep working,” Yang wrote. “HOW DO YOU ATONE FOR YOUR SINS? A THREAD OF SOLUTIONS.”
Customary for Jews on Yom Kippur, Yang’s first “Atoning for Sexual Assault in Comedy” idea is to privately apologize to each of your victims.
Atoning for Sexual Assault in Comedy Idea #2: Write letters and make phone calls to all of the comedy club bookers, hosts, waiters, agents, managers, tour managers, and fellow comedians who protected you to apologize to the survivors.
— Jenny Yang 👲🏼👲🏼👲🏼 (@jennyyangtv) August 28, 2018
Ideas number three and four involve monetary reparations. Yang thinks perpetrators should take a full accounting of “all the earnings these survivors missed had they hypothetically continued on their career trajectories without your enablers” as well as the “physical and emotional labor and services your survivors have had to pay for themselves or neglected because they couldn’t afford it,” and pay their victims back.
Atoning for Sexual Assault in Comedy Idea #6: Use your money and network of gatekeepers to make sure all comedy clubs are to be managed by at least HALF women or non-binary people and book this way as well.
— Jenny Yang 👲🏼👲🏼👲🏼 (@jennyyangtv) August 28, 2018
You can read the full thread here.
“If I see another fartface post ‘but how much does he need to punished?!’ As if it was a rhetorical question with no real-life answers send them my fucking thread,” Yang concluded her thread.
Calling all rabbis: If you’re struggling with what to say this Yom Kippur, we highly suggest you invite Yang to the pulpit.
