Louis CK has cancelled his planned Wellington and Christchurch tour dates in November.
The comedian was supposed to be playing Christchurch's Town Hall on November 20 and Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre on November 22, but those dates have now been canned.
The promoters of the show TEG Danity posted on the Ticketmaster and Ticketek sites that the dates would no longer be going ahead.
It said it was due to a "scheduling conflict" - however, Newshub understands low ticket sales for the events are the reason for the cancellations. Promoter TEG Dainty has been approached for comment.
"TEG Dainty wishes to advise that Louis C.K.'s Wellington show, set to take place at Michael Fowler Centre on Tuesday, 22 November 2022 has been cancelled due to a scheduling conflict," the Ticketmaster website said, promising ticketholders would be contacted for refunds.
The exact same message was posted on Ticketek's website for the Christchurch show on Sunday, November 20.
A planned date at Auckland's Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre on Saturday, November 19 was still due to go ahead. At the time of writing, the Ticketmaster website showed the venue was nearly full to capacity.
In a New York Times article in 2017 the Louie star was accused by five different women of various lewd acts.
He was said to have exposed himself in front of two female comedians in 2002, masturbated while speaking to a female comedian over the phone in 2003, and asked to masturbate in front of another comedian - who declined - in 2005.
Louis CK has not denied the allegations, releasing a statement shortly after they were published saying "these stories are true" and "there is nothing about this that I forgive myself for".
The New Zealand Comedy Guild, which represents comedians in Aotearoa, has condemned the proposed tour, saying the comedian was "not welcome here."
In a statement signed by the Guild's executive board, it called for New Zealanders to "stand in opposition to the tour".
"Once regarded by many as the foremost American comedian of his generation, in 2017 C.K.'s habitual and long-running coercion of younger female comedians into watching him masturbate was revealed publicly.
"Our local industry is still recovering from similar instances of older, relatively powerful men coercing, abusing and mistreating younger women comedians in ways that also went unspoken and unaddressed for far too long.
"These behaviours are antithetical to the sort of healthy, open, and diverse comedy industry that the NZ Comedy Guild aims to foster.
"Comedy is not an excuse for sexual coercion or violence and our industry can not live up to its full potential while such acts are minimised, laughed off, or ignored by their perpetrators and enablers.
"C.K.'s fame and talent do not make up for or excuse the harm he has done and the careers he has ruined.
"The New Zealand Comedy Guild, the New Zealand comedy industry at large, and hopefully the people of New Zealand stand in opposition to C.K.'s past actions, his lack of contrition and his attempts to cover up the harm he has caused.
"He is not welcome here," the statement ended.
In August, NZ comedian Guy Williams hit out at the controversial US comedian's tour, saying it wasn't "very ethical to support a comedian like him".
"It is kind of grim because Louis CK is probably the best comedian in the world and he's kind of brushed away these very serious allegations against him."
"For me, it's kind of depressing because the question has always been 'why aren't there more women in comedy?'. I think the honest answer is because of sexual assaults and predators like Louis CK and so it's a really tough one," said Williams.
"People go 'I find him funny and I'm going to watch the show', but I think anyone trying to buy tickets, you have to think this guy is an abuser. He doesn't really repent for what he's done and tried to suppress the allegations against him for so many years.
"I don't think it's very ethical to go and support a comedian like him... he can just continue to tour whenever he wants.
"He won the Grammy last year so the Grammys are kind of endorsing him but I think he doesn't realise the magnitude of what he's done, as so many men don't realise the seriousness of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
"So in my mind, he's not someone who's worth bringing back."
