A civil suit filed in California’s federal court on Tuesday accuses comedian Chris D’Elia of child sexual exploitation and violation of child pornography laws.
The plaintiff, who goes by the name of Jane Doe in the lawsuit, says that she was a 17-year-old high school student when she connected with D’Elia on social media in 2014. Her statement says that 34-year-old D ‘Elia knew that the girl was a minor, even commented on a photo of her dressed for “spirit day” while at school.
The lawsuit says the comedian invited her to one of his shows. She attended one in Connecticut where, according to the complaint, he engaged in sexual activities with her before taking the stage. During these interactions, the lawsuit alleges that D’Elia asked the plaintiff several times to tell him how old she was and she said she was 17 (Connecticut law says the age of consent is 16)
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From there, “he built a manipulative, controlling and abusive dynamic”, says the complaint, in which he demanded that she provide sexually explicit images of herself over the Internet. When she refused, the complaint says, D’Elia “punished her psychologically”.
The lawsuit says D’Elia “requested and received” more than 100 sexually explicit photos and videos of the girl, “all in violation of federal child pornography and sexual exploitation laws”.
D’Elia was previously accused by two women of exposing themselves in separate incidents, one in 2011 and the other in 2018, with their stories detailed in a report on CNN.com. Previously, D’Elia was accused of enticing underage girls on social media.
After these charges arose, CAA dismissed the actor-comedian as a client. He was also released by the management company 3 Arts Entertainment. Netflix, for its part, ruled out an impromptu prank program in which D’Elia was featured.
In February, after the original accusations emerged, D’Elia released a long video statement confronting the deluge of accusations of sexual misconduct against him, saying in part: “I know how it goes with all the things that have been said … I know it looks bad, and it doesn’t show the full scope of what happened. “He said,” I stand for the fact that all my relationships were consensual and legal. That’s the truth. “
However, he continued, “sex controlled my life. And I have a problem … I need to work on it. “
Later in the video, he apologized to everyone who was affected by his activities, saying, “I’m sorry.”
The complaint says that while D’Elia “claims ‘it was always about sex’ for him, it was much more for Ms. Doe. It was about child pornography and child sexual exploitation. “
In a statement released when the original charges arose, D’Elia’s representatives sent the following to the Deadline:
“I know I said and did things that may have offended people during my career, but I never intentionally sought out any underage women at any time,” he said. “All of my relationships have been legal and consensual and I have never found or exchanged inappropriate photos with the people who tweeted about me. That said, I’m really sorry. I was a stupid guy who ABSOLUTELY let me lead by my lifestyle. The fault is mine. I own it. I have been reflecting on this for some time and I promise that I will continue to do better. “
D’Elia did three comedy specials on Netlix. The comedian also had a three-episode arc on the Netflix series You in 2019, in which he played a man who threatens a 15-year-old girl. D’Elia’s character was killed. The comedian also played Whitney Cummings’ boyfriend on the NBC show Whitney, a paper that Cummings said he wrote for D’Elia.