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Details of comic Jeff Ross’ alleged relationship with underage woman publicized
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The details of comedian Jeff Ross’ alleged relationship with a teenage girl in the early 2000s have gone wide in a new, far-ranging piece by Vulture. Ross, 54, a stand-up comic long known for his appearances in Friars Club and Comedy Central roasts of other comedians, allegedly entered into a relationship with a woman named …
The details of comedian Jeff Ross’ alleged relationship with a teenage girl in the early 2000s have gone wide in a new, far-ranging piece by Vulture.
Ross, 54, a stand-up comic long known for his appearances in Friars Club and Comedy Central roasts of other comedians, allegedly entered into a relationship with a woman named Jessica Radtke beginning in 1999, when she was 15 and he was 33. Radtke, 36, documented the relationship via a public Facebook page she started in September 2019 called “Iwas15hewas33.”
According to Vulture — whose piece on Radtke and Ross was published Wednesday — Radtke’s video summary of their relationship went “mostly unnoticed” until the sexual-misconduct allegations against comic Chris D’Elia in June prompted a 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.” She posted Radtke’s video to Twitter, where it quickly amassed 500,000+ views. Another comic, Griffin Newman, chimed in that a friend of his told him about allegedly dating Ross as a teen, writing “this is clearly a pattern of behavior.”
Jokes at the 2019 Comedy Central roast of Alec Baldwin also alluded to Ross’ behavior, with Nikki Glaser joking that “Jeff gets really hot girls, and I just … How do you get tens? Teens — I’m sorry, I read that wrong.” Caroline Rhea later added “Jeff Ross, you’re a staple on the roasting circuit and a predator at high-school dances.”
Amy Schumer, meanwhile, told Vulture directly that “Jeff is someone I consider a good friend, and I love him, but to be honest, he always has alarmingly young-looking girlfriends.”
Vulture has an additional seven sources confirming they were aware of Radtke’s alleged relationship with Ross, including her father, who says he approved of it at the time. Radtke notes Ross took pains to keep their relationship a secret and explains that he was “obsessed” with Jerry Seinfeld’s four-year relationship with Shoshanna Lonstein in the ’90s when the comic was 38 and Lonstein was 17.
Radtke’s breaking point came when she discovered Polaroids of other underage girls while helping Ross move. “They were not women,” Radtke says. “They didn’t have any pubic hair.” Radtke, who is now married, said she saw Ross on and off until she was 22. She has since retained a lawyer, Alex Little, for representation, and owing to the extension of New York State’s Child Victims Act, has roughly a year to take Ross to civil court.
“Let me be clear,” Ross wrote in a statement posted June 22. “These disgusting allegations asserted against me are absolutely not true. I have never engaged in any sexual relationship with a minor.” He added that he intended to take legal action against Radtke as well, alleging that she has “mental health issues” and accusing her and her husband of harassing him over the years.
Page Six has reached out to Ross for comment.
