--- title: Louis C.K. Saturday Night Live: SNL Comedy Monologue description: Louis C.K. talked on 'Saturday Night Live' about racism and pedophilia in a controversial opening monologue. canonical: https://time.com/3881810/louis-ck-snl-monologue/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-17T15:57:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:23:43.515Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Louis C.K. Jokes About 'Mild Racism' and Child Molesters on 'SNL' og:description: Louis C.K. talked on 'Saturday Night Live' about racism and pedophilia in a controversial opening monologue. og:url: https://time.com/3881810/louis-ck-snl-monologue/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25ce1591db4efce0/69884cf40b72e3134c6e3b1a/louie-ck-snl.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Louis C.K. Bumper Photos og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Louis C.K. Jokes About 'Mild Racism' and Child Molesters on 'SNL' twitter:description: Louis C.K. talked on 'Saturday Night Live' about racism and pedophilia in a controversial opening monologue. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25ce1591db4efce0/69884cf40b72e3134c6e3b1a/louie-ck-snl.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Louis C.K. Jokes About 'Mild Racism' and Child Molesters on _SNL_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 17, 2015 3:57 PM UTC  ©2015/Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC ©2015/Mary Ellen Matthews/NBCMary Ellen Matthews—NBC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 17, 2015 3:57 PM UTC Like most comedians, Louis C.K. likes to push the envelope when it comes to controversy in his routine. Keeping with that tradition, his monologue this week on _Saturday Night Live_‘s season finale touched on a range of taboo topics from pedophilia to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Did he go too far? His monologue opened with a discussion of race and growing up in the 1970s. Under that umbrella, the _Louie_ star said, he responds differently to a black man wearing a hoodie and a white man wearing a hoodie. “I have mild racism,” he said. “It’s benign. It’s not aggressive.” The pedophilia remarks were perhaps the most shocking. He begins by telling a story of a child molester in his hometown growing up, who carried out his acts with impunity. If the comedian’s story was true, it’s hardly a laughing matter. After mentioning the ostracism that caught child molesters face in today’s world and adding that some go on to still do it, he said, “You can only really surmise that it must be really good, I mean, from their point of view—not our’s—but from their point of view, it must be amazing, for them to risk so much.” The SNL band standing behind him can be seen shaking their heads. Recognizing the crowd reaction, like a nervous laughter, he jokes: “How do you think I feel? It’s my last show, probably.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3881810/louis-ck-snl-monologue/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3881810/louis-ck-snl-monologue/"},"headline":"Louis C.K. 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