British comedian and children’s author David Walliams accused of sexual misconduct

British comedian and children's author David Walliams accused of sexual misconduct

Sylvia Hui And Brian Melley, The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — British children’s author and comedian David Walliams used his fame to groom girls and young women for sex, two British news outlets reported on Tuesday.

ITV News and the Guardian newspaper said their joint investigation featured interviews with multiple women who gave firsthand accounts of Walliams’ conduct. One woman alleged she was sexually assaulted by Walliams at his London home when she was 15, while others accused him of grooming them when they were teens.

Walliams, 55, denied the allegations. He unsuccessfully sought a court injunction to bar the news outlets from identifying him, claiming that publication of sexual misconduct allegations would lead him to take his own life.

The court fight delayed publication for months, but a judge rejected his injunction request last week and the protection of his identity expired late Monday.

“I am not a sexual predator,” Walliams said in a letter to the news organizations. “I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”

“Whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did,” he added.

Walliams is best known for comedy sketches on “Little Britain,” a hugely popular British TV show in the 2000s, but he’s also a celebrated children’s book author with some 40 published titles that sold more than 60 million copies worldwide, according to his website.

Several of them, including “Gangsta Granny,” have been adapted into BBC comedy dramas and stage productions. Producers of “Fing!” — an upcoming film based on Walliams’ book — said in a statement Tuesday that they had removed his cameo appearance and that Walliams “will have no involvement in the film’s release or promotion.” He is credited as a co-writer. U.K. distributor Sky told Variety it was dropping the movie. Angel Studios, the U.S. distributor, did not answer The Associated Press’ emailed query about its plans for the film.

Walliams was dropped last year by publisher HarperCollins after allegations were made of inappropriate behavior. Few details were published at the time, but the Guardian reported Tuesday that there were concerns about his behavior for years, including an allegation that he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior female employee.

He was also a judge for a decade on “Britain’s Got Talent,” though he stepped down in 2022 after apologizing for making “disrespectful comments” about auditioning contestants.

The BBC said Tuesday it was removing some programs, including “Little Britain,” while it carried out a review of “all material featuring and written by David Walliams on our platforms.”

The literary agency Independent Talent Group also said it was dropping Walliams following the new allegations.

The court fight, in which Walliams was identified in news reports as a “famous man,” drew widespread attention in Britain because it highlighted questions over public figures’ right to privacy and what media can report on the basis of public interest.

Walliams’ lawyer, Sara Mansoori, told the High Court that he had made a suicide attempt when he received letters from ITN and Guardian News and Media seeking his response to the allegations. He later made another attempt, she said, and he was recently admitted to the hospital for psychiatric care.

Attorney Gavin Millar, representing the media companies, has said that the allegations were gathered after “a wide-ranging and rigorous investigation” and that there was a strong public interest in publishing them.

Millar told the court that the investigation involved speaking to more than 100 people, and alleged that over a period of years Walliams “used his status and influence as a well-known public figure to establish contact with young women, some considerably younger than him, and that he engaged or sought to engage in seriously inappropriate conduct,” according to a summary of the court judgment.

Some of the alleged conduct could amount to criminal offenses if proven, a summary of the court judgment said.

The Metropolitan Police in London contacted the news organizations Tuesday to make sure any possible victims knew how to report criminal allegations.

In dismissing the injunction bid, Justice Matthew Nicklin said such a legal measure would mean “an exceptionally serious interference” with the rights of the media companies.

He noted that Walliams had a “serious and longstanding psychiatric vulnerability” which must be taken seriously, and said a decision allowing the allegations to be published will substantially increase his risk of suicide. However, he added that the evidence did not “establish that suicide is inevitable.”

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