Jerry Harris, star of Cheer on Netflix and former Joe Biden presidential campaign surrogate, has been raided by the FBI for allegedly soliciting photos and sex from minors.

FBI agents executed a search warrant at Harris’ home on Monday afternoon. Law enforcement reportedly searched his Naperville, Illinois, residence in connection to the probe. The 21-year-old Harris has not been criminally charged and has not issued a statement. “The FBI is conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity in the area,” an FBI special agent told USA Today in a statement.

The investigation was launched after allegations made against 21-year-old Harris by 14-year-old twin brothers.

USA Today spoke to the boys, who described a pattern of harassment, both online and at cheer competitions, that started when they were 13 and Harris was 19. It continued for more than a year. “Harris is accused of asking one of the brothers to have sex with him in 2019 at two Varsity cheerleading competitions,” the newspaper reports.

WATCH:

Cheer is a documentary series that chronicles Navarro College cheerleaders’ plight to win a U.S. national championship and has scored six Emmy nominations since its release in January. In June, Harris made a cameo featuring now-Democrat presidential nominee Biden in a video in which he asked viewers to vote for Biden.

Last month, TIME magazine reported on how the Biden team recruited Harris and other Hollywood figures:

Biden’s digital team knows the former VP’s online following doesn’t begin to compete with Trump’s. So its strategy has revolved partly around leveraging the popularity of others. “Where are people already talking about this? Where are the people who are already fired up about this?” says Biden senior adviser Caitlin Mitchell, 34, who is leading much of the digital strategy. Biden’s team has organized Instagram Live sessions with influencers including TV personality Keke Palmer and Jerry Harris from the Netflix series Cheer. (The idea of working with Harris earned the support of Biden’s college-age granddaughter Finnegan, who has the candidate’s ear on digital matters.)

The development comes in the wake of Netflix facing immense backlash over its tween-twerking movie Cuties.

Last week, Sen. Tom Cotton led Republicans in urging the Department of Justice to launch a criminal investigation into Netflix, with the Arkansas lawmaker accusing the streaming giant of  “peddling child pornography.”

“Like any parent, I find ⁦[Netflix’s]⁩ decision to peddle child pornography disgusting. And it’s criminal,” Cotton tweeted Saturday. “[The Justice Department] should take swift action.”

Harris has not yet been criminally charged.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.