Tig Notaro has spoken out about Louis C.K.'s Saturday Night Live sketch "Birthday Clown," which has come under fire for bearing a strong resemblance to a short film Notaro made in 2015.

In a statement to EW, Notaro acknowledged the "cacophony of voices reaching out personally and publicly about the potential plagiarizing of my film Clown Service." Notaro went on to explain that an unnamed writer-director "who was fully aware of Clown Service when I was making it, actually worked on Louis C.K.'s clown sketch."

"Louis C.K. and I have not communicated in any way for nearly a year and a half," her statement continues. "And finally, I never gave anyone permission to use anything from my film."

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

While the statement stops short of being an outright accusation of plagiarism, the implication here is clear: Somebody with knowledge of Notaro's 2015 short Clown Service went on to work on "Birthday Clown," making it unlikely that the similarities between the two are coincidental. Representatives for SNL and C.K. have yet to comment.

"I hesitated to even address any of this," Notaro concluded, "but I think it is only right to defend my work and ideas and moving forward, I plan to continue screening Clown Service with the joy and pride I always have."

This content is imported from Third party. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Emma Dibdin Contributor Emma Dibdin writes about television, movies, and podcasts, with coverage including opinion essays, news posts, episodic reviews and in-depth interviews with creatives.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io