Before November of this year, I thought I knew everything worth knowing about Louis C.K. I watched every episode of his FX show Louie. Watched nearly every comedy special he made. Read his interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. Listened to his interviews with Marc Maron on his WTF podcast. I even chose him as the subject of my presentation in college. This guy was not just my favorite comedian, but one of my idols.

Calling someone your “hero” might be extreme, C.K. wasn’t necessarily my hero but the type of adult I related to and admired. A socially awkward and insecure adult with a unique observation of the world and hilarious. As seen in his show, his perspective on life was odd but insightful. He was an artist who tapped into the deep thoughts of most average joes.

And what makes people feel like they really know comedians personally is that most of them go on stage and make jokes about their own personal tragedies and insecurities. Some of them are so good at putting ourselves inside their lives that it’s as if we’ve been friends with them for years. Louis C.K. told intimate stories about his day-to-day life on stage and joked about his honest insecurities as a middle-aged, balding, overweight single father who happened to be hilarious. Comedy is tragedy with timing after all, but Louis C.K. crossed the line multiple times to women, turning an awkward situation into a tragic one affecting their lives deeply.

The worst part about the whole situation was that part of me felt he was going to have allegations thrown at him soon. A couple years ago I read a couple articles which featured rumors of what he did, but my thoughts at the time were “this doesn’t look good, but let's just wait and see what comes of this, innocent until proven guilty.” That thought doesn’t cut it anymore in these times, it was simply a band-aid on the crack of an oil-rig on the verge of explosion.

The explosion began with the horrifying allegations of renowned movie producer Harvey Weinstein, then Kevin Spacey, then Brett Ratner, then Louis C.K. and so on and so forth.

Every allegation no matter who, is extremely disappointing, but each person to be exposed with accusers is more and more shocking because most of these people appeared to be champions of morality and equality for women everywhere.

Senator Al Franken, the one sharp and no-nonsense politician we desperately need more of in the age of Trump. He made a stupid decision in grabbing a sleeping woman’s breasts.

Charlie Rose, whose long-running interview show is a staple in American history, he allegedly walked around naked in front of women after taking showers.

John Lasseter, The head of Pixar and Disney Animation studios whose work inspired the imagination of millions of millennials as children including myself? He had to take a leave of absence from Disney knowing that he had violated the company’s ethics in giving “uncomfortable hugs” among other allegations.

This person isn’t as known in the mainstream, but the head the geek media company Screen Junkies Andy Signor, the creator of Honest Trailers, had multiple allegations of sexual harassment and was fired. Him being caught was a huge shock to me because I was a big Honest Trailers fans and spoke to him at the Screen Junkies panel in Philadelphia Comic-Con not that long ago.

On the scale of abuse of power and sexual harassment, Louis CK is far above as egregious as Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Kevin Spacey, but nevertheless what he did is still egregious. When reading his apology letter, knowing what I already knew about him, I believed him when he said he had “remorse’ for what he did.

As we’ve been finding out this year, Hollywood and the entertainment business is full of people who abuse their power. But the history of these types of scandals goes back since Hollywood’s beginnings, the difference being that they were often forgiven or forgotten:

Errol Flynn, one of the most famous leading actors of all-time, was put on trial for having sexual relations with a minor. While he was acquitted, his reputation took a hit, yet he is still remembered as a Hollywood legend.

Charlie Chaplin, the most iconic actor and filmmaker of the silent film era, had numerous affairs with teenage girls and had multiple (false alarm) shotgun weddings. However, his shady past is put in the background of his legacy and is still celebrated as apart of Hollywood’s Mount Rushmore.

Going into more recent decades, Roman Polanski, the talented director of classic films such as Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, was convicted of drugging and raped a 13-year-old girl in 1977 and would flee the United States and hasn’t returned since. While most of the public hasn’t forgiven him, he still got to make movies. When winning the Academy Award in 2002 for directing The Pianist, he was given a standing ovation despite not being able to attend the ceremony.

The comedy legend Woody Allen, whose work has been compared to Louis C.K., was caught in a bizarre and highly covered scandal in the early 90s. He was caught having an affair with the adopted daughter of his partner, actress Mia Farrow. He and the adopted daughter are married to this day, but the odd scandal still hangs over his head despite continuing to make movies.

In Louis C.K.’s situation, I don’t know what’s next for him, and if there’s anything for him career-wise. The consequences for this behavior has reached a point to where Kevin Spacey’s character in his next movie is being recast and reshot just to avoid public backlash.

For C.K., his deeds already have consequences with all of his work removed from HBO, FX, and Netflix, and it’s probably best for him to disappear from the spotlight for awhile. Even if America, a country that has forgiven celebrities for almost anything, forgives him and allows him to return to doing comedy he will always have those incidents hanging over his legacy.

One of the finest actors in the world, Bryan Cranston, made a statement that was probably unpopular but thoughtful about abusers getting a second chance saying “It would take time, it would take a society to forgive them, and it would take tremendous contrition on their part...And a knowingness that they have a deeply rooted psychological and emotional problem and it takes years to mend that. If they were to show us that they put the work in and were truly sorry and making amends and not defending their actions but asking for forgiveness then maybe down the road there is room for that. Maybe so. Then it would be up to us to determine, case by case, whether or not this person deserves a second chance.”

In order for that to come through, is for the men and women these celebrities abused are open to forgiving them as well. The time has come to end power abuse in all areas, whether entertainment, business or politics.

If there is anything to learn from the exposures of once-revered icons is that you can be the best comedian in the world, the best journalist in the world, the best politician in the world, the best animator in the world, the best actor in the world, or the best producer in the world, but all of that talent and accolades mean nothing compared to how you treat people.

Who we should admire are people who not only have the talent, but the class and humility to go with it, no matter what they think they can do.