Chris D’Elia Sued For Allegedly Soliciting Child Pornography From Jane Doe

Editor's Note: The following article includes details about abuse that may be triggering. Please proceed thoughtfully.

Nearly a year after multiple women came forward claiming that Chris D’Elia had behaved inappropriately towards them when they were underage, the comedian is now being sued for allegedly soliciting child pornography. 

The lawsuit is being brought to the 40-year-old by a woman going by Jane Doe in order to protect her privacy. Doe, now 24, says that D’Elia's alleged predatory behavior began in September 2014, when she was just 17 and in still in high school. The lawsuit says D’Elia "constructed a manipulative, controlling, and abusive dynamic in which he demanded Ms. Doe provide him sexually explicit images of herself over the internet, directed her what specific sexual poses and acts she should perform for him, and psychologically punished her when she refused.”

D'Elia has continuously denied all claims against him. A spokesperson for D'Elia told Refinery29 that "Chris denies these allegations and will vigorously defend against them in court."

According to the lawsuit, Doe claimed she had sent the comedian a DM on Instagram as a "joke," but he responded "right away" and that same night D'Elia "asked Ms. Doe to send him nude pictures of herself." She says she sent him five to 10 sexually explicit photos and videos.

The next month, Doe attended D'Elia's show in Mashantucket, Connecticut, but before the performance he allegedly invited her to his hotel room. Minutes after she arrived, he allegedly "grabbed Ms. Doe's hand, put it on his already erect penis, and started moving her hand to pleasure himself," and then told her to give him oral sex and have sex with him, which she did after the show.

Over the next few months, the lawsuit claims D'Elia solicited more 100 photos and videos from Doe (half of which during the time she was a minor), and verbally abused her after she refused to send "videos of herself having sex with boys her age."

A few months after she turned 18, she began a new relationship with someone else and stopped regularly communicating with D'Elia, though they allegedly sporadically texted until 2017.

Doe is demanding a trial by jury and seeking "compensatory, liquidated, and punitive damages."

Shortly after the reports about D'Elia's alleged pattern of behavior emerged in June 2020, he was disavowed by many of his acting and comedic peers and Netflix scrapped his upcoming prank show. He was also dropped from his talent representatives at CAA, WME and 3 Arts Entertainment.

Then, on February 19, 2021, D'Elia released a 10-minute YouTube video in which he admitted that he has a self-described "problem" with sex, but denied any claims of criminal and predatory behavior made against him. “I know it looks bad, and it doesn’t show the full scope of what happened. I stand by the fact that all my relationships have been consensual and legal, and that’s just it. That’s the truth.”