Dozens of women have shared their experiences online with 40-year-old comedian Chris D’Elia, alleging that he messaged them asking for sex and attempted to solicit nude photos from them while they were teenagers. In some cases, the people allege this occurred while they were underage.
The Twitter account @SheRatesDogs has posted an extensive thread of allegations, ranging from flirty messages, to grooming, soliciting nudes, emotional blackmail, and sexual assault. More than 20 stories, both anonymous and public, allege these interactions took place when they were between 16 and 19 years old.
The thread began after Twitter user Simone Rossi tweeted alleging that Chris D’Elia groomed her via email when she was 16.
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 pic.twitter.com/xq7XDrat8i
— simoné (@girlpowertbh) June 16, 2020
More allegations rolled in and were collated by the SheRatesDogs accounts, including multiple anonymous users detailing allegations of emotional and physical blackmail, and D’Elia exposing himself to women.
This is crazy bc I’ve literally had this sent to me about Chris Delia as well https://t.co/o05YWjIUqo pic.twitter.com/qbYQ7mIK6Z
— SheRatesDogs (@SheRatesDogs) June 17, 2020
Geez this one includes blackmail pic.twitter.com/9YFszaIQY4
— SheRatesDogs (@SheRatesDogs) June 17, 2020
Two different girls pic.twitter.com/Q01Rbgjs8p
— SheRatesDogs (@SheRatesDogs) June 17, 2020
Further screenshots are also being shared on Twitter, with women alleging that D’Elia messaged them on various social media platforms and via email, trying to get their phone numbers, photos of them, and meet up with them in hotel rooms.
Alright y’all, I went back to my 2011 Facebook messenger and found the DMs from Chris D’Elia being creepy and persistent to me when I was 17 (more in thread) pic.twitter.com/mGr0IikcJT
— Abby Grills (@AGrillz) June 17, 2020
Another woman alleged that D’Elia threatened to ruin her friend’s life after he attempted to solicit nude photos of her while she was underage.
https://twitter.com/badhandjob/status/1273044281565917184?s=20
D’Elia denied the claims of sexual misconduct, telling TMZ in a statement:
“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.”
D’Elia is a comedian with a Netflix special, more than 1.1 million followers on Twitter and another 2.4 million on Instagram, and played the predatory stand-up comedian Joshua “Henderson” Bunter in Series 2 of ‘You’.
