Louis C.K. is buying back the rights to his abysmal-looking comedy I Love You, Daddy after it was dropped in the wake of numerous sexual misconduct claims made against him.
According to Deadline, indie distributor The Orchard has agreed to sell C.K. back the film’s global rights for $5 million, which is what it paid following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September.
C.K.’s motivations for buying back the movie are unknown—maybe it’s an altruistic attempt to mitigate the financial damage wrought on The Orchard after it was revealed that C.K. masturbated in front of multiple women; maybe it’s because C.K. plans to release it himself. In addition to re-acquiring the rights, Deadline reports that C.K. is paying back any marketing costs incurred, meaning the company won’t suffer any financial setback from its association with the film.
The Orchard was quick to drop I Love You, Daddy after the New York Times published its story containing allegations from multiple women against C.K. over the course of his career. They weren’t the only ones: Netflix also axed the comedian from a planned stand-up special; HBO disinvited him from appearing on a televised autism benefit; FX cut ties with him altogether.
Press ahead of the release of the film—about a TV writer whose 17-year-old daughter is being preyed upon by a very old, very well-regarded filmmaker—was creepy in its prescience. As C.K. told the Times two months ahead of the paper’s bombshell report: “The uncomfortable truth is, you never really know. You don’t know anybody. To me, if there was one thing this movie is about, it’s that you don’t know anybody.”