Cult Comedy Central show Workaholics has pulled an episode that featured disgraced comedian Chris D’Elia playing a sexual predator from a number of streaming platforms.
Over the past week, the comedian was accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by a number of women, following accusations laid against him by a woman named Simone Rossi, who accused him of “grooming” her when she was sixteen.
On Tuesday, June 16th, Rossi started a Twitter thread illuminating the irony of D’Elia playing a pedophile in season two of Netflix series You.
“I still can’t believe Netflix cast Chris D’elia as the pedophile in season two of You like the literal IRONY,” Rossi wrote.
She continued to share a series of emails and screenshots detailing alleged conversations between her and Rossi, that saw D’Elia asking Rossi to meet up after shows and asking for photos of herself. Rossi was 16 when these conversations took place.
“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 molested was because u had just gotten a boyfriend ur own age,” she wrote on Twitter.
“For the longest time I thought it was embarrassing for ME that I was interacting with this older man,” Rossi continued.
“But he was the one who DM’d me on Twitter and was the one who was twice my age and was the one that used the power imbalance between us to his advantage so fuck Chris D’Elia.”
Following the accusations, D’Elia shared a statement denying the claims, and emphasising that he “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,” D’Elia wrote in a statement. “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.”
The May 2011 Workaholics episode, titled ‘To Friend A Predator’, was first removed by Comedy Central. Hulu and Amazon, which carry all seven seasons of the stoner-comedy, have also removed the episode from their libraries.
The episode revolved around Workaholics stars Adam DeVine, Anders Holm and Blake Anderson as friends who, in this episode, attempt to expose D’Elia’s character and his indiscretions but end up partying with him. There is some sort of Epstein-esque metaphor in here.
In the second season of You, D’Elia played a comedian who grooms and sexually assaults young, underage women.
