Five women have accused Christian comedian and YouTuber John Crist of sexual harassment. Details of multiple instances of misconduct, as well as Crist’s apology, were reported by faith-based Charisma News on Wednesday.
According to the report, Crist has allegedly abused his fame to harass, manipulate, and exploit young women over a period of at least seven years. Crist has been accused of sexting women, initiating sexual relationships with married women and women in relationships, offering show tickets in exchange for sexual favors and repeatedly harassing women late at night while intoxicated.
In an email to Charisma News, Crist said that while he is not guilty of all he is accused of, he is guilty of “treat[ing] relationships with women far too casually, in some cases even recklessly.” Crist told Charisma he has received “regular professional treatment” for “sexual sin and addiction struggles” over the past few years and apologized for his “destructive and sinful” behavior.
“I’m committed to getting healing and freedom from my sin and have decided to cancel my remaining tour dates this year and to postpone all future commitments in order to devote all my time and energy on getting healthy spiritually, mentally and physically,” Crist said.
Crist is well-known for his stand-up comedy and was in the midst of a nation-wide tour when the allegations surfaced. The comedian has 526,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he regularly vlogs about his life and his faith. Crist was also working on a Netflix special that was supposed to be released later this month but has now been put “on hold.”
Jeremiah Warren, a filmmaker and photographer, told Charisma News he first learned about the allegations from a friend, referred to as Lindsey. Warren says when he posted about the misconduct on social media, at least 11 women came forward with similar stories. Not all 11 allegations have been verified.
“He would talk with women online on Twitter, Snapchat, whatever,” Warren said. “[He gives] them a free ticket to the city [where] they live that he’s coming to for a show. Then he will invite them to a hotel room for unspecified reasons. When they turn him down, then he holds the ticket over them and says, ‘Why have you been talking to me? Obviously this is what you wanted.’ This is a very gross simplification and paraphrase, but he’s basically shaming them for taking this free ticket and trying to neg them into going to him in the hotel room.”
Charisma News notes that while four out of five women were willing to speak on the record, the publication chose to use pseudonyms to “protect the reputations and identities” of the sources.
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H/T Daily Mail
