Chris D’Elia: YOU star and comedian accused of sexual misconduct and ‘grooming’ underage girls

Among the multiple allegations were claims that D'Elia had used social media to try and solicit sex and nude photographs from minors

Actor and comedian Chris D’Elia has been accused of “grooming” and attempting to solicit nude photographs from underage girls.

D’Elia, who has hosted the Congratulations podcast since 2017, has starred in Netflix comedy specials and the sitcoms Whitney and Undateable. In 2019, he portrayed the role of paedophile stand-up comedian Henderson in the Netflix thriller series You.

On Twitter, a woman named Simone Rossi tweeted a screenshot of her alleged interactions with D'Elia, and accused him of grooming her.

“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," she wrote.

As Rossi’s tweet went viral, a number of other women came forward with their own allegations about D’Elia.

“He’s trash,” wrote one woman. “He put me on the list at a venue to see him perform and casually said I could then meet him in his car behind the building and suck his d***. I made up an excuse and never showed up.”

Another woman wrote: “F*** you @chrisdelia. You solicited nudes from minors while u were in Vancouver and tried to f*** my friend when we were 16, and when i called u out on twitter you told her you’d ruin her life if i didn’t delete it. absolute pedophile scumbag [sic].”

The Twitter account SheRatesDogs, which shares anonymous stories submitted by women about their bad experiences with men, then tweeted that they had received numerous stories about D’Elia over the years.

The account began sharing screenshots, with anonymous women alleging that D’Elia had sexually harassed or assaulted them. Others alleged that D’Elia had solicited nude images from them, before threatening to make them public.

Comedian Emma Arnold tweeted that she had been warned about D’Elia’s behaviour and told to steer clear of him.

“When I was a brand new comic, one of Delia’s best friends warned me to never send Chris nudes bc he made them into memes and showed to other male comics at shows,” Arnold wrote.

“Looks like some of those memes were probably of underage girls. No wonder I don’t miss comedy yet.”

Others shared a clip from D’Elia’s podcast, in which he ranted about how old 14-year-old girls look today.

“You ever see a f***ing 14-year-old?” D’Elia asked. “She looks 30! I’ve never seen – there’s no such thing as a 14-year-old girl anymore. They go from, like, six to 25.”

D’Elia has yet to comment on the allegations.

The Independent has reached out to D’Elia’s representatives for comment.