Chris D'Elia speaks out months after sexual misconduct accusations: Sex 'controlled my life'
Chris D'Elia has spoken out following months of silence on the sexual misconduct allegations made against him last year. In a video posted to his YouTube channel on Friday, the comedian admitted to having an unhealthy relationship with sex and that it "controlled" his life.
"First of all, I do know how it looks," D'Elia said in the video. "I know it looks bad, and it doesn't show the full scope of what happened."
Last year, the comedian was accused of grooming and pursuing underage girls, and of exposing himself to multiple women without their consent. In line with his previous statements, D'Elia maintained that all of his relationships "have been consensual and legal"; however, he also stated that his attitude toward sex was inappropriate and that he has been seeking treatment following the allegations.
"What I have come to understand is, this was always about sex to me. My life was—I mean sex, it controlled my life," D'Elia said. "It was my focus, all the time. And I had a problem, and I do have a problem... I need to do work on that."
He added that he felt "lucky" to not "need to work as hard" to have sex once he began doing stand-up comedy, and that he would simply reply to messages after shows, telling women, "'Hey, come to my hotel room and let's have sex. Let's make out. Let's do this, let's do that.'"
"I thought in my mind that being straight-up with these women was the right thing to do," the comedian said. "I realized, through all of this, that doing that is just treating sex like it's casual and being flippant with people. And that's not the guy I want to be, it's not okay, and I'm sorry for that. It makes me feel shameful and it makes me feel bad."
D'Elia also admitted that he "would use the familiarity" he had with female fans to have sex with them, and that he cheated in most of his relationships, including on his current fiancée.
"This is my dream girl, this is the girl I want to be with for the rest of my life, and even that wouldn't stop what I was doing," he said, adding that he was "doing the work" to get better.
"I have a chance here to apologize to the people who got caught up in that s---," he continued. "And I'm sorry."
The allegations against D'Elia first emerged when numerous women spoke out on social media and in an L.A. Times story in June, accusing the comedian of acting inappropriately toward them. The women claimed D'Elia sexually harassed and solicited nude photos from them when they were teenagers, with some saying they were as young as 16 at the time of the alleged incident. He was also accused of exposing himself to at least three different women three months later. D'Elia has said he has "never knowingly pursued any underage women" and denied any non-consensual relationships.
After the report broke, D'Elia was dropped by his representatives, and Netflix scrapped plans for a prank show featuring D'Elia and fellow comedian Bryan Callen, who has since also been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by multiple women. Callen has denied the allegations.
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