‘You’ Actor Chris D'Elia Accused Of Sexual Misconduct Involving Underage Girls
In You, Comedian Chris D’Elia played a character who preys on underage girls — but multiple women say it isn’t all an act
Art allegedly imitated life in a profoundly vile way where stand-up comedian Chris D’Elia is concerned. He’s currently facing numerous accusations of sexually harassing teenage girls in an eerily similar manner to his You Season 2 character.
In the Netflix series, D’Elia’s Henderson is a popular comedian who lures young girls to hang out with him before drugging them and taking nude photos of them. Now, several women have come forward on social media to share their experiences with D’Elia, most of whom were underage when he sought them out for nude photos or solicited them for sex.
On Tuesday, a Twitter user named Simoné Rossi started a thread including her personal conversations with D’Elia in 2014. At the time, she was 16.
“I still can’t believe netflix cast chris d’elia as the pedophile in season two of ‘you’ like the literal IRONY,” she started, sharing a string of messages in which D’Elia pushes her to send him pictures and meet up. “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.”
Over time, Rossi explained, her feelings regarding the situation have changed. “For the longest time i thought it was embarrassing for ME that I was interacting with this older man but he was the one who DM’ed 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 continued, adding she felt compelled to come forward since he “could still be doing this to younger girls.”
She then claimed she wasn’t the only underage girl D’Elia targeted, opening up the proverbial floor for other women to share their experiences. Which they did.
One woman shared screenshots of their DMS in which D’Elia asks her age, acknowledges she is “too young,” and continues to suggest they chat and meet up. Another revealed that he “solicited nudes off of me when I was 17 years old.” Comedian Emma Arnold revealed she was warned to “never send Chris nudes bc he made them into memes and showed to other male comics at shows.” Another comedian-slash-actress, Lean Knauer described his messages to her when she was 19 as “predatory” and “scary.”
Some women allege that D’Elia threatened to use nude photos they’d sent as blackmail, or that he would get “pissed” if they refused to cater to his whims. Several explained that they’ve been vocal about D’Elia’s behavior for years but have been blown off for technicalities — as in, they were “technically” of age, or he “technically” did nothing wrong.
The stories keep coming.
At this time, neither reps for D’Elia or Netflix (he also has a comedy special on the streaming giant) have responded to requests for comment. But with women continuing to come forward — and presenting proof of D’Elia being predatory — we can only hope that he will finally face some consequences for what appears to be a truly disturbing pattern of behavior.
