Louis C.K. Wins 2022 Grammy for Comedy Album, 5 Years After Admitting to Sexual Misconduct

Louis C.K. did not appear at Sunday's 2022 Grammy Awards, where his album — Sincerely Louis C.K. — was named best comedy album

Photo: C Flanigan/FilmMagic

Louis C.K.'s album Sincerely Louis C.K. was named best comedy album at Sunday's 2022 Grammy Awards.

The controversial stand-up comedian had been nominated against Nate Bargatze (The Greatest Average American), Lewis Black (Thanks for Risking Your Life), Lavell Crawford (The Comedy Vaccine), Chelsea Handler (Evolution), and Kevin Hart (Zero F---s Given).

He did not appear at the ceremony, nor was his win televised on the CBS broadcast.

This was C.K.'s third Grammy win in the category, and first since he admitted to sexual misconduct in 2017.

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C.K. joked about the sexual misconduct allegations in his album, addressing what happened and the effect it had on his experience of being out in the public after they surfaced.

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Five women had detailed their experiences with C.K. in a bombshell 2017 New York Times report, claiming that C.K. masturbated in front of them and others without their consent. At the time, C.K. responded with a lengthy statement, saying "these stories are true" and taking a step back from the spotlight.

"The hardest regret to live with is what you've done to hurt someone else. And I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought on them," he said. "I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen."

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Following his admission, the fallout was fast: FX severed ties with C.K., whose shows Louie and Better Things aired on the network. C.K. was dropped by all his reps, too, while Netflix canceled an upcoming stand-up special and HBO cut all of his content from its library. Orchard also canceled the release of his film I Love You, Daddy — though C.K. bought the rights to the title back.

He returned to the stage in 2018, doing sets at NYC's Comedy Cellar to much protest. A nationwide comedy tour was announced last August.

After his win on Sunday, many comedians shared their disgust about C.K.'s win, including comedian Rebecca Corry — one of the women who spoke out about C.K. to the Times. (She said C.K. "asked if we could go to my dressing room so he could masturbate in front of me" while filming a TV pilot in 2005.)

"'Cancel culture' seems pretty selective, hmm?" wrote Sarah Ann Masse, one of the more than 80 women who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. "And thanks so much to our industry for once again telling us that survivors don't matter."

Back in a November interview with The Wrap, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. defended the organization's decision to grant people like C.K. a nomination, explaining that it won't "restrict" the people who submit their work for consideration.

"We won't look back at people's history, we won't look at their criminal record, we won't look at anything other than the legality within our rules of, is this recording for this work eligible based on date and other criteria," Mason told the outlet. "If it is, they can submit for consideration."

However, he made it clear that what the organization can control is who appears at its shows and events.

"What we will control is our stages, our shows, our events, our red carpets. We'll take a look at anyone who is asking to be a part of that, asking to be in attendance, and we'll make our decisions at that point," he explained. "But we're not going to be in the business of restricting people from submitting their work for our voters to decide on."

The 64th Annual Grammy Awards, hosted by Trevor Noah, aired and streamed live on Sunday from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.