Actress Megan Drust has accused comedian Chris D’Elia of exposing himself.
Drust claimed to CNN in an article published Wednesday that in 2011 D’Elia, 40, asked her for a ride home from a restaurant, but Drust didn’t end up driving him because when they got in the car he allegedly unzipped his pants and showed her his penis.
“I said, ‘Sure.’ This was really before everyone was taking Ubers and I had marked him as safe, which equals a non-threatening male,” Drust told CNN. “He was friends with some of my friends, I had met him before. That’s what you do, at least that’s what I did, you mark certain people as safe.”
Once they entered the car, Drust claimed the “You” actor tried to make “flirty small talk” before allegedly asking her to touch his genitals.
“I was very confused because it just didn’t fit the moment,” she recalled. “Then he took down his zipper and asked me to touch him and I said, ‘What are you doing? No.’ And because I wouldn’t touch him, he started to masturbate. I couldn’t believe it.”
Feeling uneasy, Drust says she exited her car but still felt unnerved by D’Elia and his actions. He then exited the car before walking away, she claims. Drust recounted the ordeal to two friends, who confirmed the account to CNN.
“D’Elia denies these allegations and emphatically states that he has never engaged in any sexual conduct with any woman without her consent,” D’Elia’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, told Page Six in a statement on Wednesday.
Two other women, one of whom asked to remain anonymous, also told CNN that D’Elia exposed himself to them shortly before or on days he was set to perform a stand-up show. In one instance, one woman was working as a manager at the Kimpton Schofield Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio, where she says D’Elia was a guest in 2018.
D’Elia allegedly called to complain that the air conditioner wasn’t working, and as she was working as the overnight manager at the time and the electrician wasn’t on duty, she went to help.
“When I knocked on the door, he opened the door and he was completely naked,” the woman told CNN. “I was surprised, and I was annoyed that I just came all the way up just so he could expose himself to me.”
She said she turned and left his room without saying a word.
The third alleged victim, Laura Vitarelli, who first came forward in June with allegations to the Los Angeles Times, told CNN that D’Elia exposed himself to her and a friend in 2015, when she was 19 years old. She and her friend had exchanged numbers with D’Elia following his show. They claim he invited them to a party.
“He gave us the address and we went,” Vitarelli said. “It turned out to be his hotel.”
Upon arriving at his room, she said D’Elia asked them to put their phones in a basket.
“There was no sign of a party at all,” Vitarelli said. “He said he was going to make us drinks and her and I were both a little nervous just because it really didn’t look like he was about to throw a party. There was nobody else there.”
Vitarelli said she and her friend began feeling nervous and “deceived,” and when they all sat down on the couch with some drinks, D’Elia allegedly began groping them, which prompted them to leave the hotel, CNN reported.
“He got up with us and followed us to the door and said, ‘Are you sure you want to leave?’ And he pulled out his penis and it was fully erect,” Vitarelli told CNN. “It was very uncomfortable for the both of us, and we knew we had to get out of there so we left as fast as we could.”
Vitarelli’s friend confirmed the account but asked to remain anonymous. Vitarelli has hired attorney Jay Ellwanger and is pursuing a civil complaint.
In June, D’Elia was accused of preying on underage girls online. He denied the allegations shortly thereafter, stating he “never knowingly pursued any underage women at any point,” but admitted to being a “dumb guy.”
D’Elia since has been dropped by CAA.
Whitney Cummings, who worked with D’Elia on her NBC series “Whitney,” spoke out against him when the allegations first came to light. Cummings described what she read about D’Elia as a “pattern of predatory behavior.”
D’Elia’s team later released his emails between him and his accusers exclusively to Page Six to paint a better picture of what allegedly occurred between him and his accusers.
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