A NEW report has revealed shocking details of comedian Jeff Ross' alleged sexual relationship with a teenage girl he met at a New York comedy club while in his early 30s.
The 54-year-old standup comic is best known for his appearances in the storied Friars Club comedy house and several celebrity roasts on Comedy Central.
A feature published by Vulture on Wednesday alleges that Ross began a relationship with a woman named Jessica Radtke in 1999, when she was just 15 years old and he was 33.
Radtke, now 36, said she met the comedian at a comedy club in New York City.
She detailed their relationship on a public Facebook page she opened in September 2019 titled "Iwas15hewas33."
Radtke, who is now married, claims she saw Ross on and off until she was 22.
Her video summary of their relationship went "mostly unnoticed" until allegations of comedian Chris D'Elia grooming underage girls surfaced in June, according to Vulture.
The revelation prompted fellow comic Pallavi Gunalan to tweet: "“Brace yourself for the 20+ other prominent men in comedy women have been messaging each other about behind closed doors.”
Gunalan then shared Radtke's video in a thread on her Twitter account, where it quickly amassed more than 500,000 views.
Fellow comedian Griffin Newman joined in on the conversation, claiming that a "friend" told him about going on dates with Jeff Ross when she was 15 or 16 years old.
"This is clearly a pattern of behavior," Newman said.
Jokes at the Comedy Central roast of Alec Baldwin in 2019 alluded to the rumors of Ross' behavior.
Comedian Nikki Glaser joked that “Jeff gets really hot girls, and I just … How do you get tens? Teens — I’m sorry, I read that wrong,” while Caroline Rhea later added “Jeff Ross, you’re a staple on the roasting circuit and a predator at high-school dances.”
Amy Schumer told Vulture: “Jeff is someone I consider a good friend, and I love him, but to be honest, he always has alarmingly young-looking girlfriends.”
An additional seven sources confirmed to the magazine that they were aware of Radtke's alleged relationship with Ross – including her father, who says he approved of it at the time.
Radtke claimed Ross painstakingly kept their relationship a secret, explaining he was "obsessed" with then-38-year-old Jerry Seinfeld's relationship with 17-year-old Shoshanna Lonstein in the 1990s.
She said she reached her breaking point when she found Polaroids of other underage girls when helping Ross move.
"They were not women. They didn’t have any pubic hair," said Radtke.
She has since hired lawyer Alex Little to represent her and has about a year to take Ross to civil court, thanks to the extension of New York State's Child Victims Act.
Ross staunchly denied the sexual misconduct allegations in a statement he tweeted on June 22.
“These disgusting allegations asserted against me are absolutely not true. I have never engaged in any sexual relationship with a minor,” he wrote.
He added that he intended to take legal action against Radtke as well, who he said has “mental health issues”, and accused her and her husband of harassing him over the years.
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