An episode of Workaholics where Chris D’Elia (Whitney, You) plays the role of a child molester has been taken off Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Comedy Central, via Variety. Just last week, 5 women took to Twitter to detail how D’Elia allegedly sexually harassed them.
Workaholics stars Adam DeVine (Game Over, Man!), Blake Anderson (Dope), and Anders Holm (The Intern), which follows the story of 3 college students and their transition into the workforce. D’Elia is not a part of the main cast; however, he guest starred on a season 1 episode entitled “To Friend a Predator” which aired in 2011. He played a child molester named Topher who becomes friends with the main cast, played by DeVine, Anderson, and Holm, after attempting to expose him, according to Variety.
D’Elia’s accusations began with Julia Holtzman, who at the time was 17 years old when she woke up to find he, then 36 years old, had direct messaged her on Instagram. After asking how he found her social media, D’Elia typed “Just came across. Is that bad?” and proceeded to allegedly give her a phone number and allegedly suggested that she go from Long Island to New York City in order to see him. While she never went, she saved these screenshots to one day expose him, via Chicago Tribune. Since her story and screenshots were released, more women went to Twitter with allegations of D’Elia’s inappropriate behavior towards them while they were underage.
In a statement to TMZ, D’Elia denied any allegations towards him, “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. That being said, I really am truly sorry. I was 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,” via Variety.
While Hulu and Amazon Prime still offer all seven seasons of Workaholics, D’Elia’s guest episode is no longer available on either platform. Meanwhile, D’Elia’s comedy special, White Male. Black Comic was taken off Comedy Central’s streaming platform as well.
In response to the allegations presented by Twitter, D’Elia’s Whitney costar Whitney Cummings (The Female Brain, 2 Broke Girls) took to Twitter to describe her disappointment and outrage.
Recently, D’Elia starred in the second season of the well-known Netflix original series You, where he plays a comedian who sexually abuses underaged girls. D’Elia’s character was killed off by the end of the season and has not been in the plans for an appearance in season 3.