Warning: This article contains explicit language and may be triggering for some readers. Please read at your own discretion.
Penn Badgley and Whitney Cummings are speaking out about the sexual harassment allegations levelled against Chris D’Elia.
Last week multiple women came forward with allegations against D’Elia, saying he “groomed” them while they were teenagers and asked for nude photos.
D’Elia responded to the accusations and said, “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.”
Badgley shared his reaction to the news of the allegations against his You co-star on Monday during an interview for an upcoming episode of the Los Angeles Times podcast, Can’t Stop Watching.
D’Elia appeared in Season 2 of Netflix’s You where he played Joshua “Henderson” Bunter, who was a stand-up comedian and is revealed to be a violent pedophile. Joe Goldberg, played by Badgley, ends up killing him.
“The idea that a show like ours would indirectly, unwittingly be a haven for people who are abusive is disturbing. It’s very disturbing,” Badgley said. “It did affect me deeply. I was very troubled by it. I am very troubled by it.”
The Gossip Girl star continued, “There needs to be a change in culture and attitude so that that kind of behaviour is so clearly reprehensible, it’s so clearly, like, anti-human.”
Badgley added that he tries to “uphold a certain level of conduct” in his own life.
“What is really important is to recognize that the policies that underwrite every given system — the practices, the regulations, the laws that underwrite every one of these systems which act as a haven for the individuals that take advantage, namely white men,” he said. “I think that we need to remember that that is the level of change we’re looking for.”
Badgley revealed that You producers reached out to Jenna Ortega, the actor who played Ellie, a teenager that D’Elia’s character preyed on in the series, to make sure “she felt safe.”
“We can feel safe and sound there,” Badgley said.
Cummings, who starred in the comedy series Whitney with D’Elia, shared a statement on social media on June 20.
“It’s taken me a couple days to process the information I have learned about Chris. I’m devastated and enraged by what I’ve read and learned,” Cummings began.
“This is a pattern of predatory behaviour. This abuse of power is enabled by silence. Now that I’m aware, I won’t be silent,” she wrote.
“Girls should be able to be a fan of a comedian they admire without becoming a sexual target. It’s the adult’s responsibility to be an adult,” Cummings added.
On June 23, Cummings took to Twitter again to address the people on social media who have been accusing her of “knowing” about D’Elia’s alleged “predatory behaviour.”
“I’m talking to a lot of female comics who are being accused of ‘knowing’ about predatory behaviour. Dudes don’t show us their phones at work. Everyone must be 21 to enter a comedy club. Women should not have to take on the blame, guilt, and consequences of mens behaviour?” Cummings tweeted.
Amy Schumer didn’t mention D’Elia’s name in her statement but she offered support to the people who are speaking out about “the mistreatment they have experienced at the hands of comedians.”
“Hey. Crazy time right? Lot goin on. I just wanted to take a second to say how brave the women coming forward are about the mistreatment they have experience at the hands of comedians or in any other profession,” she wrote. “Especially the ones who weren’t of legal age to consent.”
“There are great men out there. And there are men who humiliate and abuse women and girls because of a power dynamic or because when they were that age girls wouldn’t talk to them,” Schumer continued. “Whatever your reasoning is, or was. We are watching you and we are all together now and we won’t accept this behaviour whether you break the law or not.”
“I’m here to talk if anyone needs support. Reach out and I’ll try to help out as best I can. My number is posted on my bio. In solidarity, Amy,” she concluded.
In a Twitter thread, user Simone Rossi shared screenshots of an alleged conversation with the You actor from 2015, when she was 16-years-old, last week.
A Twitter account called, She Rates Dogs, shared a screenshot of a conversation about D’Elia in which an anonymous user claims that “in early 2018,” he allegedly “exposed himself” to a female hotel employee who was called to fix the air conditioning unit in his room.
“Fun fact about Chris Delia. When he stayed at my hotel two years ago, he called for help with his AC unit and then exposed himself to the woman who went to help. Then tried to get her to come back to the room. If you see/post pls leave me anonymous but it was in Cleveland Ohio during his show early 2018,” the message read.
In another message, another anonymous person alleged that when D’Elia performed in Boulder “last year I went with my underage friend and she messaged him on IG saying she loved the show, because she was lowkey Instagram famous, and he asked her and I to come back to his hotel room later to ‘cuddle’ with him.”
Another Twitter user named Meg alleged that D’Elia “solicited nudes from minors in Vancouver and tried to f–k my friend when we were 16.”
“And when i called u out on twitter you told her you’d ruin her life if i didn’t delete it. absolute pedophile scumbag,” she added.
Another Twitter user from Vancouver wrote, “Although I’ve been publicly saying it for years, F–K Chris D’elia. He solicited nudes off of me when I was 17 years old and constantly messaged me whenever he was touring Vancouver and asked me to come backstage to his shows.”
Liv Stadler posted a thread on Twitter about D’Elia “being in Toronto filming something.”
“When I was 21, I was an aspiring comedian and huge Chris D’Elia fan. One day, Chris tweeted about being in Toronto filming something, so I jokingly responded asking if he wanted to hang out. He DMed me to ‘hang out’ almost immediately and I freaked out!” she wrote.
She continued: “I was going to get to meet one of my biggest idols in comedy! I understood the subtext that he was going to try to have sex with me, what other interest would he have in ‘hanging out’ with me, an otherwise nobody?”
Stadler said she was “young and dumb” and she agreed to meet him in public at a bar.
“10 minutes before our meeting time, he switched the location to his hotel bar. I sighed, knowing where this was going. But went anyway, I wanted to meet him!” she wrote.
“When I arrived at the hotel bar, I ordered a drink and texted him, telling him I was there. Predictably, he told me to come to his hotel room. I said ‘no thank you, I prefer to meet at the bar’. He stopped responding,” she said.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
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