Chris D’Elia's career imploded in 2020 when multiple women accused him of sexual improprieties. Photo Handout
Embattled comedian Chris D’Elia has been hit with a temporary restraining order by a woman accusing him of threatening to release intimate, adult videos of her and making death threats against her.
The order, granted Tuesday (Sept 26) in Los Angeles Superior Court, was based on unlawful violence, a credible threat of violence, or stalking, according to court documents obtained Thursday by the Los Angeles Times.
D’Elia, 42, whose career imploded in 2020 when multiple women accused him of sexual improprieties, has been barred from contacting 34-year-old Caroline Schmitz of Los Angeles, as well as threatening to contact her — either directly or indirectly — harassing, intimidating or attacking her, and has been ordered to stay 100 yards away from Schmitz, her home, work and vehicle.
But the comedian’s attorney Andrew Brettler insists that D’Elia never met Schmitz and that her allegations are defamatory.
“These accusations are as fantastical as they are defamatory,” Brettler said in a statement to The Times on Friday. “Chris has never met this person. But over the last year, she has sent him increasingly disturbing text and audio messages, including making threats against him and his family. If anyone is going to get a restraining order here, it’s going to be Chris.”
TMZ reported Thursday that Schmitz allegedly sent the stand-up comedian threatening audio and text messages earlier this year, re-posting some of the messages D’Elia said she sent him through Instagram.
According to the civil harassment restraining order request, Schmitz alleged that she and the You and The Good Doctor actor initially met in 2017 after he viewed some of her comedy content online and tracked her down at the club where she worked. She said they began a sexual relationship over the course of several months.
Schmitz said that in May 2022 he again reached out to her via OnlyFans, a subscription-based online platform that permits creation and sale of adult content, threatening “to post intimate videos that I had created for him on the platform,” as well as screenshots of their messages on OnlyFans, if she didn’t leave Los Angeles.
Schmitz believed the messages to be from D’Elia because she “recognized his style of writing” and was “spooked” by comments he made that led her to believed he was monitoring her and her online activity. She also said that she believed D’Elia hacked her phone, or ordered someone else to do so.
“I am scared of [D’Elia]. I am scared [D’Elia] will continue doing things to exert sexual control over me. I am terrified that [D’Elia] will release the videos and cause me further harm,” she wrote in the order request.
D’Elia has been ordered to delete or destroy any intimate or private images, videos or audio recordings of Schmitz “whether genuine or artificially created,” and has been barred from sharing them, the order said.
He’s also been barred from accessing Schmitz’s electronic devices or online accounts, “including but not limited to email accounts, social media accounts, apps or their accounts, records of any communications, smart phones, computers, tablets, or any other device or account requiring a password.” The order includes devices and accounts that Schmitz had previously authorised D’Elia to access or to which he knows or knew the password.
The temporary order will remain in effect until Oct 19, when a hearing has been scheduled in Los Angeles Superior Court. - Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
