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Comedian Chris D’Elia is facing a child pornography lawsuit after a woman claimed that he had sex with her when she was underage and solicited sexually explicit photos of her.
The woman, who in the lawsuit filed yesterday (March 2) is referred to as Jane Doe, alleges that D’Elia had sexual intercourse with her in 2014 when she was 17-years-old. The claimant also alleges that she sent more than 100 photos and videos via Snapchat to him that same year.
A spokesperson for D’Elia said [via The Los Angeles Times]: “Chris denies these allegations and will vigorously defend against them in court.”
In the lawsuit seen by The Los Angeles Times, the claimant said she’d initially messaged the comedian on Instagram while he was on his ‘Under No Influence’ tour. “When I was in my final year of high school and still a child, I was groomed by a celebrity twice my age,” Doe said in a statement released by her lawyers.
“Chris D’Elia abused his status and fame to lure me in, take advantage, and manipulate me when I was at a vulnerable age. I want any other girls out there to know that they are not alone, and it is time to get justice for the mental and physical toll he has put us through.”
Elsewhere in the lawsuit, You actor D’Elia is alleged to have “constructed a manipulative, controlling, and abusive dynamic in which he demanded Ms. Doe provide him sexually explicit images of herself over the internet, directed her what specific sexual poses and acts she should perform for him, and psychologically punished her when she refused”.
D’Elia, 40, who was aged 34 at the time of the alleged incidents, is also accused of persuading Doe to come to one of his stand-up shows in October 2014 at Connecticut’s Foxwoods Resort Casino. Doe’s lawyers claimed in a statement that he “lured [Doe] to his hotel room…separated her from her friends, and took advantage of her youth and inexperience to have sex with her.”
Last year D’Elia was accused of grooming underage girls, which he denied.
In February this year, D’Elia addressed in a new YouTube video the sexual misconduct allegations made against him.
D’Elia denied the claims, saying all of his relationships had been “both legal and consensual” and said he had “never met or exchanged any inappropriate photos with the people who have tweeted about me”.
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