Written by: Alex Green

Louie C.K.’s new feature film “I Love You, Daddy” will not appear in theaters.

The film’s distributor released the following statement about the movie: “The Orchard will not be moving forward with the release of ‘I Love You, Daddy.'”

This week the comedian was accused by five women of sexual misconduct. Although members of the comedy intelligentsia have been telling unconfirmed stories for years about Louis C.K.’s fetishistic impulses to masturbate in front of women, nobody had come forward to corroborate those stories.

Until this week.

The women who have come forward all accuse Louis C.K. of  masturbating in front of them.

There’s even a scene in “I Love You, Daddy” wherein a character engages in masturbatory behavior over the phone.

The idea that an artist’s work can mirror their own sexual fetishes is not lost on the New York Times who point out: “The stories told by the women raise sharp questions about the anecdotes that Louis C.K. tells in his own comedy. He rose to fame in part by appearing to be candid about his flaws and sexual hang-ups, discussing and miming masturbation extensively in his act — an exaggerated riff that some of the women feel may have served as a cover for real misconduct. He has all but invited comparison between his private life and his onscreen work, too: In “I Love You, Daddy,” which is scheduled to be released next week, a character pretends to masturbate at length in front of other people, and other characters appear to dismiss rumors of sexual predation.”

“I Love You, Daddy” centers around a successful television writer who is shocked to learn that an older filmmaker renowned for having inappropriate sexual relationships with much younger women is now circling around his daughter.

Many believe the aging filmmaker role is a reference to the career of Woody Allen.

Sara Stewart of the New York Post observes: “Shot in black and white on 35mm, it’s both an homage to and satire of 1979’s (Woody Allen’s)“Manhattan,” with that movie’s sexually predatory overtones made scathingly explicit. As a typically candid CK told the audience at a post-screening Q&A, his inspiration for the film was, “You think about people whose work you like, and then it’s like, ‘What if one of those guys was f–king my daughter?’”

The film stars Louis C.K., John Malkovich, Rose Byrne, Charlie Day, Edie Falco, Helen Hunt and Chloë Grace Moretz.

“I Love You, Daddy” had received mixed reviews by the critics who saw it, but Stewart wisely observes the film, “…often feels like a blatant middle finger to anyone who might question his integrity.”