Last month, a young woman on Twitter alleged that actor and comedian Chris D’Elia had behaved inappropriately with her, and the accusations against D’Elia mounted as more women came forward with similar stories. The star has denied the allegations made against him, but the professional repercussions of the claims have been swift; Netflix just pulled the plug on his developing project.
The firestorm surrounding D'Elia's reported sexual misconduct began in late June when a woman named Simone Rossi revealed that the actor had asked her for nude photos and to "make out" while she was underage. Rossi's story went viral online, and several other women shared that they had also been subjected to inappropriate behaviour from D'Elia.
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"I was being preyed on," Rossi told Refinery29. "And when you’re that young, and especially when you’re talking to someone so famous, you think it’s cool and exciting."
Shortly after his name started trending online in connection to the accusations, D'Elia released a statement denying that he had ever knowingly engaged with anyone underage in a sexual manner.
"All of my relationships have been both legal and consensual," claimed the star. "I have never met or exchanged any inappropriate photos with the people who have tweeted about me."
But the claims made by the young women are being taken seriously in the industry, resulting in Netflix scrapping an upcoming D'Elia series.
The untitled series was going to feature D'Elia and his friend and fellow comedian Bryan Callen pulling detailed pranks. While other platforms have quietly removed some of D'Elia's most prominent work from their offerings — the Workaholics episode in which he ironically played a pedophile has been taken down from Amazon, Hulu, and Comedy Central — D'Elia's three comedy specials and his run on season two of You in which he also plays a sexual predator still remain on Netflix for now.
D'Elia's former co-stars Penn Badgley, Whitney Cummings, and Amy Schumer have expressed their concerns about his alleged misconduct, calling it "predatory behaviour." The star was also dropped from his talent representatives at CAA, WME and 3 Arts Entertainment shortly after the news broke.
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