Multiple women say You actor Chris D’Elia sexually harassed them when they were underage
Trigger warning: This article discusses sexual harassment and sexual misconduct.
A growing number of women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against stand-up comedian and You actor Chris D’Elia. In You Season 2, D’Elia played Henderson, a pedophile comedian, and from women’s accounts—many of whom were underage girls at the time—this was far too similar to the role he played in real life.
The string of allegations started on Tuesday, June 16th, when Twitter user Simone Rossi tweeted, “I still can’t believe netflix cast chris d’elia as the pedophile in season to of ‘you’ like the literal IRONY.” She continued on in a thread, sharing alleged email conversations between her and D’Elia from 2014.
The first screenshots show D’Elia writing, “Send me a pic” to Rossi, who was 16 years old at the time, presumably soliciting nude photos. The next tweet in the thread shows screenshots of a conversation between D’Elia and Rossi in 2015, making plans to 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,” Rossi wrote. Rossi also provided a full statement about her experiences to People here.
imagine getting owned by a 16 year old pic.twitter.com/wKTSx6ie5S
— simoné (@girlpowertbh) June 16, 2020
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 also tweeted about the shame she felt before coming forward and how she used to think this was just “a funny story to tell at parties.”
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*ck chris d’elia
— simoné (@girlpowertbh) June 16, 2020
for the longest time i thought this was just a funny story to tell at parties when i realized what happened isn’t normal and that he was and could still be doing this to younger girls and it’s my job to say something
— simoné (@girlpowertbh) June 16, 2020
She also tweeted that she was “definitely not the only underage girl he did this to,” and unfortunately, she seems to be right.
Rossi’s tweets gave many more women the courage to come forward with their own stories about D’Elia.
One user tweeted that D’Elia solicited nudes from her when she was 17 years old and messaged her to come backstage at his shows. Another user wrote that he “tried to fuck my friend when we were 16” and then used blackmail to keep them silent. Various accounts also show D’Elia messaging girls when they were in high school.
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.
— feral goblin (@michaelacoletta) June 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/1273044281565917184
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
The account @SheRatesDogs, which shares stories from direct message submissions, also shared various allegations against D’Elia anonymously. “Unfortunately the reason an account like mine exists is because women know any time they speak on harassment or assault they’ll be accused of doing it for attention,” @SheRatesDogs tweeted. “Nobody actually wants whatever “attention” you’d get from this, they just want their stories/experiences heard.”
Geez this one includes blackmail pic.twitter.com/9YFszaIQY4
— SheRatesDogs (@SheRatesDogs) June 17, 2020
Concentrating on the high school girls’ stories right now pic.twitter.com/dewutlbJ8u
— SheRatesDogs (@SheRatesDogs) June 17, 2020
D’Elia denied allegations through a statement to TMZ, saying that he “never knowingly pursued any underage women at any point.” He continued, saying, “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 ended the statement by saying that he was “truly sorry” and that he’s been “reflecting on this for some time now.”
If you are a sexual assault survivor and need help, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 to speak to a trained counselor. You can also chat online with a counselor here. Both services are available 24/7.
