March 03, 2021
Comedian Chris D'Elia allegedly solicited more than 100 nude photos and videos of a 17-year-old girl that he met online, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday.
The suit claims D'Elia, 40, violated child pornography and child sexual exploitation laws. It alleges the comedian exploited the girl for several months by creating "a manipulative, abusive and controlling dynamic" in which the girl was "psychologically punished" if she denied his request for pictures.
This is not the first time D'Elia has been accused of sexual misconduct. Multiple women came forward last summer, claiming he sexually harassed them over text messages and social media. Some of the women were underage at the time of the alleged harassment.
His latest accuser, who is now 24, says she began communicating with the comedian in September 2014 after sending him a photo of herself holding a giant teddy bear and laughing — a message intended as a joke. He allegedly responded immediately and soon began requesting nude photos.
D'Elia also invited the girl to his show at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut on Nov. 7, 2014. There, he "exploited his own fame and status and Mrs. Doe's youth and inexperience" to have sex with her, the suit claims. D'Elia was 34 at the time of the alleged incident.
D'Elia continued soliciting sexually explicit photos and videos until the girl broke off contact in 2015, the suit alleges.
The previous allegations against D'Elia, a Montclair, New Jersey native, came to light after a Twitter used accused him of sending her sexual messages when she was 16. Her tweets went viral and prompted other women to come forward with similar allegations.
Multiple women also have accused D'Elia of exposing himself to them.
D'Elia discussed the allegations in a video posted to his YouTube channel late last month. In the video, titled "It's been awhile," the comedian said he realized he is a sex addict.
"It was always about sex to me. Sex controlled my life. It was my focus all the time," D'Elia said, but he maintained that all of his relationships have been consensual.
D'Elia was dropped from his talent agency, Creative Artists Agency, after the allegations surfaced last year. An episode of the Comedy Central show "Workaholics," in which he played a pedophile, also was removed from streaming services.
D'Elia also played a comedian who sexually abuses teenage girls on the Netflix series "You." He has more than 2.1 million Instagram followers and more than 500,000 YouTube subscribers.
A copy of the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, can be viewed below. Warning: the lawsuit describes sexual allegations in graphic detail.
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