Comedian Jeff Ross Denies Allegation He Had Sexual Relationship With Underage Girl More Than 20 Years Ago

Nellie Andreeva and Denise Petski
·3 min read

Click here to read the full article.

Comedian Jeff Ross is denying a woman’s allegation that the two had a sexual relationship when the woman was 15 years old.

“I have never engaged in any sexual relationship with a minor,” Ross wrote on Twitter Monday night.

More from Deadline

The woman, who posted under the Facebook screenname Iwas15hewas33, said she was in a relationship with Ross beginning in 1999, when she was 15 years old and he was 33. Her allegations included rape and child pornography, with claims of Ross taking explicit photos of her with a Polaroid camera.

The woman originally made the allegations in 2006 college essay and more recently in a video posted in October 2019, in which the woman showed a slew of photographs of her, Ross and other which she said support her claims. The video resurfaced over the weekend when comedian Pallavi Gunalan reposted the video on Twitter (see it below) in the wake of another comedian, Chris D’Elia, denying accusations that he had solicited teen girls.

“The story is old news,” Ross wrote said as part of his defense. “It has been investigated numerous times and thoroughly reviewed and never published. The witnesses and evidence do not support these despicable allegations.” He wrote that the woman “has a documented history of drug abuse” and that she and her husband “have been harassing me for years.” He adds that he hopes the woman “gets help for her mental health issues.”

He goes on to say that he intends “to take legal action based on these untrue horrific allegations because no one, no matter how sick they are, should be allowed to continue to try and benefit from false stories while attempting to destroy others.” He ends by saying, “Although this accusation is false, I want there to be no doubt of my commitment to victim of sexual assault.”

You can read his statement in full below.

Ross is best known as host of Comedy Central’s celebrity roast specials. As an actor, he’s appeared on HBO’s Six Feet Under and Crashing, and Showtime’s Weeds, among others.

 

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.