Louis CK's shock admission: "These stories are true."

Comedian Louis CK says stories about sexual misconduct, as reported in the New York Times, are true.

Five women have accused the comedian of sexual misconduct, a New York Times report said on Thursday, and on Friday the comedian confirmed their stories.

Two US comedians, Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov, told the paper that he “started masturbating” while they were in his hotel room after the US Comedy Arts Festival in 2002 in Colorado.

Other allegations include him masturbating during a phone conversation in 2003. The paper spoke to two other women who made similar claims.

In the Friday statement CK said he thought his behaviour was okay because he never showed women his penis without asking first.

“But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your (penis) isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.”

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The alleged incidents happened in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the paper reported.

The comedian expressed remorse for his actions and said he understood the extent of the impact of them.

“There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for. And I have to reconcile it with who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with,” he said in a lengthy statement.

“I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.”

It comes after Netflix scrapped a comedy special from him amid the allegations.