[ad_1]
Comedian and actor Chris D’Elia has spoken out in response to the claims circulating online this week that he sexually harassed underage girls, insisting that “all of my relationships have been both legal and consensual” and that he “never knowingly pursued any underage women at any point.”
D’Elia, who starred as both a comedian and pedophile in the second season of the Netflix show “You,” was called out on Twitter on Tuesday when a woman named Simone Rossi tweeted in reference to his character on the show. Rossi called D’Elia’s casting “literal irony.”
i still can’t believe netflix cast chris d’elia as the pedophile in season to of “you” like the literal IRONY
— simoné (@girlpowertbh) June 16, 2020
Rossi then tweeted screenshots from 2014 that she claims are between her and D’Elia from when she was 16 years old.
imagine being 16 and being groomed by a stand up comedian twice ur age and the only reason you never met up and never got physically m*lested was because u had just gotten a boyfriend ur own age pic.twitter.com/xq7XDrat8i
— simoné (@girlpowertbh) June 16, 2020
Rossi continues in later tweets, writing that she previously “thought it was embarrassing for ME that i was interacting with this older man.”
“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 so f*ck chris d’elia,” she wrote.
Of these allegations, D’Elia told TMZ: “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,” he said. “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.”
D’Elia’s manager referred to the TMZ statement when pressed for further comment by HuffPost.
In response to Rossi’s original thread, others have chimed in to reply or tweet separately to say that they too had experienced sexual harassment by D’Elia.
WOWOWOWOWOW so glad im not the only girl who experienced this. I met him in a hotel bar on Halloween and he got mad I wouldn’t ditch my friends for him. I went to LA and texted him and he told me I was a bitch bc I wouldn’t go upstairs and sleep with him
— tara fay (@tarafayy) June 17, 2020
He would message me too, for years. First time he did was in 2014 when I was 18, a senior in HIGH SCHOOL. Creep. Fast forward to 2016 & I’m living in LA and he’s really trying to chill with me now. Asked to pick me up, gave him my address, but flaked 🙂 he was angry
— ♥ 𝕜𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕫𝕖𝕟 ♥ (@kelly_granzen) June 17, 2020
although i’ve been publicly saying it for years, FUCK Chris D’elia. he solicited nudes off of me when i was 17 years old and constantly messaged me whenever he was touring vancouver and asked me to come backstage to his shows.
— goblin (@michaelacoletta) June 17, 2020
Alright y’all, I went back to my 2011 Facebook messenger and found the DMs from Chris D’Elia being creepy and persistent to me when I was 17 (more in thread) pic.twitter.com/mGr0IikcJT
— Abby Grills (@AGrillz) June 17, 2020
Popular Twitter user @SheRatesDogs began posting accusations against D’Elia on Tuesday night after women sent their stories in direct messages to the account in an effort to speak out and stay anonymous.
[ad_2]
Source link