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.”
Rossi then tweeted screenshots from 2014 that she claims are between her and D’Elia from when she was 16 years old.
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.
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.