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Sexual misconduct allegations have been circling around beloved comedian Louis C.K. for several years but have mostly stayed within the comedy world and among the fans and media who follow it.

But they exploded into the mainstream this week when one of C.K.’s one-time female collaborators, Tig Notaro, told the Daily Beast that it’s time C.K. addressed these allegations in a serious way and not brush them off, as he has done in the past.

“I think it’s important to take care of that, to handle that, because it’s serious to be assaulted,” said Notaro. She stars in the new Amazon series “One Mississippi.” Louis C.K. is listed as executive producer but Notaro still spoke up against him. She said, “It’s serious to be harassed. It’s serious, it’s serious, it’s serious.”

The allegations against C.K. are both ugly as well as rather pathetic, and have been the subject of gossip site blind items and were even openly discussed by Roseanne Barr last summer. They involve claims the critically acclaimed sitcom auteur gets female comics or writers into a room and asks (or forces) them to watch him masturbate. “I’ve heard so many stories,” Barr said last year, but admitted she had no firsthand knowledge of specific incidents.

However much these allegations have merit, C.K. has become the latest prominent male show business figure to be confronted with headlines and charges alleging mistreatment of women. These charges range from sexual harassment (Academy Award-winning actor Casey Affleck) to being a serial adulterer while masquerading as a crusading male feminist (film director and TV showrunner Joss Whedon).

The charges threaten to undermine the positive public personas these men have enjoyed — that they are gifted but sensitive, generous geniuses who use their wealth and power to promote great movies and TV, worthy causes and/or the careers of other artists.

In the past, women’s experiences of mistreatment in the entertainment industry have remained largely unspoken, given the fact that there has long been a boys-will-be-boys attitude in regards to the casting couch. And, of course, women struggling to establish careers have not wanted to speak up against men who have had the power to deny them work.

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Much has changed — due, of course, to Bill Cosby.

As Indiewire.com TV editor Liz Shannon Miller said: “A refrain has emerged, one that might sound like a plea: Listen to women. Believe women. Even when they speak out against someone that might be considered a genius or hero, don’t ignore their stories.”

Miller sees signs of fans begging to listen to women, much more than they used to. After many years, neither Roman Polanski or Woody Allen has been able to escape outrage over issues relating to confirmed or alleged sexual misconduct with young females. In fact, the calls for these acclaimed film auteurs to be held accountable seem to have grown louder in recent years.

This week, fan outrage was directed at Whedon, the creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and other empowered female characters. Over the weekend, his ex-wife Kai Cole penned a powerful essay that details the ways she says that Whedon was a serial adulterer and lied and mistreated her during their 16 years of marriage.

Cole said he told her he couldn’t help but cheat on her, given that he had become a powerful filmmaker and it was almost fated for him to have affairs with “beautiful” and “needy” young women. Cole said her main point in writing the essay was to show that her ex-husband wasn’t the caring and concerned feminist, and fellow nerd, that he pretends to be.

There appeared to be an immediate response among Whedon fans after Cole’s essay was published. As of this week, the 15-year-old site dedicated to discussing Whedon’s film and TV shows shut down. While the site didn’t give a reason, one of the founders didn’t deny that Whedon’s “issue” was a factor.

It will be interesting to see what impact Notaro’s statements will have on Louis C.K.’s fans. C.K. and Notaro were friends at one point, with C.K. releasing Notaro’s acclaimed stand-up set about her cancer diagnosis on his website, the AV Club said.

But their relationship has clearly cooled since then, and Notaro recently accused C.K. of copying one of her short films in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch. In the Daily Beast interview, Notaro initially wanted to make clear that C.K. wasn’t at all involved in her new show, even though he is listed as executive producer.

With regard to the sexual misconduct allegations, Notaro told the Daily Beast that she and C.K. had “an incident” before “One Mississippi” even started, but she declined to offer specifics.

In any case, it doesn’t look like these allegations will retreat so easily from mainstream attention, as they have in the past. As Notaro said, C.K. may very well have to “handle” it.

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In her post, Indiewire’s Miller suggests that’s because fandom has evolved and the boys-will-be-boys attitude towards sexual mistreatment of women is no longer as socially acceptable.

She wrote, “With each unpleasant story, a new fandom is emerging: That of women no longer being willing to be silent about the way they’ve been treated, who love themselves and each other enough to stand up and say so.”