But he admits 'I was a dumb guy... I will do better'

American comedian Chris D’Elia has denied pursuing underage girls and soliciting naked photographs.

The 40-year-old stand-up has found himself at the centre of a storm when one woman, Simone Rossi, posted exchanges she had with the comic when she was 16. It led to several other women to share their claims of being targeted by D’Elia when they were of similar age.

Now the comedian issued a statement saying: ‘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.

‘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.’

No criminal or civil charges have ever been bought against D’Elia, who has three Netflix specials and 2.4million Instagram followers and was cast as paedophile comedian Henderson in the Netflix thriller You.

In her initial post, Rossi said: ‘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 later added: ‘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.’

Other allegations followed from other Twitter users saying D’Elia,  exposed himself to women, and asked teenage fans back to his hotel room.

And in a further statement to People magazine, Rossi explained how he said suggestive messages about ‘making out’ even though ‘My Instagram at the time was full of pictures of me at my high school’ which she said: ‘This gives me reason to believe that he knew I was underage and I also personally believe that’s why he pursued me.’

Published: 18 Jun 2020