In an unfortunate case of art imitating reality, an episode of Workaholics in which comedian Chris D'Elia guest stars as a child molester has been removed from streaming services.
Per Variety, D'Elia appears in the Season 1 episode "To Friend a Predator" in the role of a sexual predator who links up with the show's main characters. The starring trio—consisting of Adam Devine, Anders Holm, and Blake Anderson—take it upon themselves to attempt to expose a known local predator named Topher (D'Elia). When they meet him they end up liking Topher as a person, creating a moral dilemma.
Over the weekend, the episode was removed from Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Comedy Central streaming services. Hulu decided to delete the episode altogether while Amazon and Comedy Central took away the option to play it.
This comes after D'Elia was accused of grooming teenage girls for sex. Simone Rossi took to social media where she revealed an email conversation that she allegedly had with D'Elia when she was just 16 years old.
After her reveal, several women came out to recount the inappropriate encounters they had with D'Elia. This resulted in a Los Angeles Times piece that detailed how D'Elia allegedly tried to groom five women for sex when they were still underage children.
Along with removing the Workaholics episode, Comedy Central has removed D'Elia's 2013 special White Male. Black Comic.
Fellow stand-up comedian Whitney Cummings addressed the accusations; D'Elia starred as her boyfriend in the sitcom Whitney:
"This is a pattern of predatory behavior," she tweeted. "This abuse of power is enabled by silence. Now that I’m aware, I won’t be silent. ... Girls should be able to be a fan of a comedian they admire without becoming a sexual target."
D'Elia has since denied the accusations.
