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An episode of Comedy Central show Workaholics featuring Chris D’Elia playing a sexual predator has been pulled from numerous streaming platforms.
The comedian has been accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by a number of women in the past week after a woman named Simone Rossi accused him of “grooming” her when she was 16, allegations he has denied.
An episode in season one of Workaholics in 2011, entitled To Friend a Predator, sees D’Elia portray a child molester called Topher who is befriended by the show’s main characters, played by Adam Devine, Anders Holm and Blake Anderson.
However, after initially trying to expose Topher, the three befriend him and join him at a party.
“A local child molester attracts the guys’ attention, but not, as it turns out, for the reason they expected,” the episode’s logline reads.
The episode is now no longer available on Hulu, where the episode has disappeared entirely, and on Amazon Prime in the US, where it says “this video is currently unavailable”. It appears to still be available on the latter platform in the UK.
A Comedy Central spokesperson has since confirmed to Variety that the episode had been removed from all the company’s platforms.
Following the allegations, D’Elia said in a statement: “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 a 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.”
NME has reached out to Amazon and Hulu for comment.
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