Comedian Chris D’Elia has responded to sexual harassment allegations involving multiple underage girls.
“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 said in a statement. “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,” he continued.
The accusations surfaced Tuesday when Twitter user @girlpowertbh shared screenshots of conversations she says took place between she and D’Elia starting when she was 16 years old in 2014. The woman is identified in the screenshots as Simone Rossi.
In a thread, she wrote: “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’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*** chris d’elia.”
Others followed with screenshots of what they said were their own conversations with D’Elia, including Twitter user @colleenriley42, who wrote, “Chris D’elia tried to procure me when I was 16. The accusations against him are all true, these emails are from 2014.”
Another user, @clara_schaller, tweeted screenshots of emails she said were from when she says she was 17, in which a person she said was D’Elia asks about a “naked sex date.”
Schaller also tweeted a picture of a statement in which she describes feeling “uncomfortable” and “pressured” to send pictures to a person named D’Elia when she was a senior in high school.
“When I was 17 years old in 2012 my older sister took me to a Chris D’Elia show. We met him that night, I tweeted out my support, and for the next few months, him and I kept in contact. Plenty of emails and text messages back and forth throughout those months. We were connected on social media; I even became Facebook friends with his brother. Chris stall has a comment on a photo of mine from 2012 of my friends on a school bus. I was a senior in high school during this time. My social media was filled with prom photos, sports uniforms and graduation celebrations. The emails I still have between him and I (the texts have been long erased) are incriminating. Rereading them today as a 25 year old woman, I remember how uncomfortable I felt being pressured into sending photos of myself to someone, who at that time, was my idol. I did not know how dangerous and disgusting his actions were at the time. I do now.”
imagine getting owned by a 16 year old pic.twitter.com/wKTSx6ie5S
— Simone (@girlpowertbh) June 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/colleenriley42/status/1273267677876944898
https://twitter.com/clara_schaller/status/1273297562171322370
https://twitter.com/clara_schaller/status/1273328248638836737/photo/1