UPDATE: Chris D'Elia faces allegations of sexual harassment, grooming underage girls
Note: This article was originally posted at 1:09 PM CST. – Ed.
Per Newsweek, a number of women allege that comedian Chris D’Elia sexual harassed them when they were underage. A woman name Simone Rossi sparked the conversation with a detailed Twitter thread on Tuesday night, pointing out the irony of D’Elia’s role in the second season of Netflix’s You, where he played a pedophile—a casting choice that Rossi “highly doubts” was coincidental. She then followed the observation with screenshots of various email exchanges with an address allegedly connected to the comedian. The shots include requests for pictures and to meet up, asking Rossi, “Can we make out?” Rossi states that D’Elia, who was twice her age at the time, attempted to groom her.
“For the longest time i thought it was embarrassing for ME that i was interacting with this older man,” Rossi tweets, “but he was the one who DM’d me on twitter and was the one who was twice my age and was the one that used the power imbalance between us to his advantage.” She then added, “I am also definitely not the only underage girl he did this too. just an FYI.”A few women followed with their own claims of experiencing similar, predatory behavior from D’Elia. Another young woman, Clara Schaller, posted her own emails from 2012 where the sender explicitly elicits “naked sex” from her. Schaller added, “I was 17.” (Rossi partially redacts the sender’s email address in her shots, so we can’t confirm that the messages come from the same place, though the language is similar.) Since Tuesday night, accusations have continued to pour in from various women, including some who have spoken out on the subject in previous years. One user even says that D’Elia threatened to “ruin her life” after she publicly shared a story about him potentially requesting nude photographs.
Many comedians have commented on the situation, alluding that this information was well known in comedy circles. As of now, D’Elia has not yet addressed the claims.
UPDATE, 3:34 PM CST: D’Elia has released a statement to TMZ denying the many allegations against him, though he apologizes for getting “caught up in [his] lifestyle.” Read the full statement below:
“I know I have said and done things that might have offended people during my career, but I have never knowingly pursued any underage women at any point. All of my relationships have been both legal and consensual and I have never met or exchanged any inappropriate photos with the people who have tweeted about me. That being said, I really am truly sorry. I was a dumb guy who ABSOLUTELY let myself get caught up in my lifestyle. That’s MY fault. I own it. I’ve been reflecting on this for some time now and I promise I will continue to do better.”