Biden campaign returns donation from Louis C.K.

Joe Biden’s campaign returned a $2,800 donation from the disgraced comedian Louis C.K., a campaign official tells CBS News. The campaign said it refunded the money in light of sexual misconduct allegations against the comedian, which C.K. said were true. 

Federal Election Commission records show C.K. donated the maximum amount of $2,800 to the Biden campaign on March 4, one day after the former vice president swept to a series of Super Tuesday victories. C.K. made the donation under his legal name, Louis Szekely.

A Biden campaign official confirmed that the full donation was returned. Biden is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

In November 2017, several women accused C.K. of exposing himself and masturbating in front of them. C.K. confirmed that the stories were true, saying in a statement: “The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly. I have been remorseful of my actions.”

C.K. has attempted a standup comedy comeback over the past two years, attracting controversy for jokes about Auschwitz, the Parkland school shooting and his pariah status.

C.K. did not immediately return a request for comment from CBS News.

Biden has faced a sexual misconduct accusation during his presidential campaign. Tara Reade, who was an aide to Biden when he was a Delaware senator, alleged that Biden sexually assaulted her in a Senate building in 1993. In March, Reade told CBS News she came forward with these allegations during the height of the primary contest, when she supported Bernie Sanders, because she was offered a platform to do so on a podcast.

The Biden campaign says the incident never happened. 

Several women, including Reade, last year also accused Biden of inappropriately touching them in public. Biden issued a video in April 2019 saying that he realized “social norms are changing” and he would “be more mindful and respectful of people’s personal space.”