Comedian Chris D’Elia has been accused of sexual misconduct and grooming teenage girls in a flurry of allegations that flooded Twitter on Tuesday. The comedian and actor—who played the role of Henderson in Netflix crime drama You—was first called out by Twitter user Simoné Rossi (@girlpowertbh), who tweeted “i still can’t believe netflix cast chris d’elia as the pedophile in season to of “you” like the literal IRONY.” Rossi then went on to share a number of screenshots of an alleged conversation between herself and D’Elia.
Dating back to 2014, the email exchange appears to show D’Elia asking Rossi for a “pic”. In Another screenshot from a 2015 email about the two meeting up, the sender asks Rossi “can we make out?” Though the sender name and email address is partly blacked out on the screenshots, the visible portion does seem to indicate that it is his name. Rossi was apparently 16 at the time, and has claimed that she was “being groomed” by the comedian, though she says the two never actually met.
As Rossi’s tweets started going viral, a number of other Twitter users have come forward with similar allegations, many of them anonymous. The allegations range from exposing himself to hotel staff, to blackmail, but the majority are about D’Elia grooming and soliciting nudes from teenage girls, many of them underage at the time. Twitter user SheRatesDogs (@SheRatesDogs) has compiled a list of over a dozen of these allegations.
Early Wednesday morning, Chris D’Elia broke his silence and denied the allegations. “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,” he told TMZ. “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,” he continues. “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.”
It is notable that even though these allegations are not fully proven at this point, many of D’Elia’s colleagues in the comedy and entertainment sector have reacted with condemnation and a lack of surprise.
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