Netflix has scrapped plans for a show featuring the actor and comedian Chris D’Elia after a series of accusations surfaced online that he had made sexual advances toward underage girls and young women over text messages or on social media.
A spokesman for Netflix confirmed that the streaming service would no longer be moving forward with a prank show starring Mr. D’Elia and another comic, Bryan Callen. The decision to halt plans for the show, which was in early stages and had not yet started filming, was made weeks ago when the accusations of sexual misconduct were coming to light.
The Los Angeles Times first reported the decision on Thursday.
The cascade of allegations against Mr. D’Elia, 40, started last month on Twitter when a woman, Simone Rossi, tweeted that in 2014, when she was 16 years old, the stand-up comedian emailed her asking for “a pic.” Months later, according to screenshots of the emails that she posted, he asked her to “make out.” (Ms. Rossi’s tweets are now private.)
After that Twitter thread gained traction, other women came forward online with accusations that Mr. D’Elia had requested nude photos of them or asked to meet up in person when they were underage or in their late teens.
In a statement to USA Today in June, Mr. D’Elia said that his relationships had all been legal and consensual.
“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,” he said in the statement. “I have never met or exchanged any inappropriate photos with the people who have tweeted about me.”
Mr. D’Elia went on to apologize in the statement for being a “dumb guy” who “let myself get caught up in my lifestyle.”
A lawyer for Mr. D’Elia, Andrew Brettler, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday about Netflix’s decision.
Mr. D’Elia’s three Netflix comedy specials, the most recent of which debuted in April, remain on the streaming service. He has a role in an upcoming Netflix zombie movie, “Army of the Dead,” by the director Zack Snyder, which was filmed before the allegations surfaced.
Mr. D’Elia also appeared in the second season of the Netflix series “You,” playing a stand-up comedian who secretly drugs and sexually assaults underage girls — a role that Ms. Rossi used to preface her initial tweets about Mr. D’Elia.
Days after the women’s accounts surfaced on social media, The Los Angeles Times published the accounts of five women, including Ms. Rossi, who were underage, in their late teens or in their early 20s when they had online or in-person encounters with Mr. D’Elia. One woman said that when she was a college student, Mr. D’Elia asked her to perform oral sex on his friend. Two other women, one of whom was named, told The L.A. Times that Mr. D’Elia exposed himself to them in a hotel room when they were young adults. (Mr. D’Elia declined to be interviewed for that article.)
Other streaming platforms have pulled content with Mr. D’Elia. Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and Comedy Central are no longer hosting an episode of the comedy show “Workaholics” in which Mr. D’Elia plays a child abuser. Mr. D’Elia’s comedy special from 2013 is also no longer available on Comedy Central’s website.
Source: Television - nytimes.com
