Almost 18 months after his withdrawal from public life, the 29-year-old Quebec comedian says he wants to show that it is possible to apologize and move on.
“I know yes, I want to start working again, I don’t know yet in what form yet,” Mr. Lacroix said in an interview with the newspaper The duty.
On July 27, 2020, the Montreal daily published an article in which nine women said they had been victims of assault or sexual misconduct by the comedian.
“I want to start walking again with my head held high. I was still quite humiliated and I’m ashamed, ”he explains to journalist Améli Pineda, author of the July 2020 article, in a video interview posted on the website of Duty Thursday.
Mr. Lacroix, father of a young child, says he now feels strong enough to take such a step. He explains that he wanted “to show that it is possible to drop on one knee, to apologize and to roll up your sleeves and move on”.
He mentions having stopped consuming alcohol even before the publication of the article, and consulted a specialist in alcoholism and drug addiction.
Three women had claimed to have had non-consenting sex when they were 15 and 16 and Mr. Lacroix was 17, in 2010. Five other women reported inappropriate behavior between 2015 and 2019. And one ex- Mr. Lacroix’s spouse recounted being sexually assaulted in the year following their break-up, recalls The duty.
“I know yes, I want to start working again, I don’t know yet in what form”, said the comedian, claiming not to have a “hidden agenda”. He evokes his desire to “start writing again”, his desire to direct, as well as the stage. “The stand-up is part of me,” he emphasizes.
“The advantage when you use humor is that you can rent rooms and do capsules on the Internet, if we don’t want to see you, we don’t see you. I am not forcing myself on anyone, ”he says.