David Walliams, a British television personality and best-selling children’s book author, was publicly accused Tuesday of exploiting his celebrity status to prey on women and teenagers as young as 15, after a weeks-long court battle to keep the allegations private. The allegations emerged after a judge decided on Nov. 3 that The Guardian newspaper and ITV News, a British broadcaster, could publish the allegations against Walliams. Walliams denies the allegations. In a letter sent to the media, he said he accepted he had “behaved thoughtlessly towards other people with whom I had casual sexual relationships”, but added: “I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law.” The secret had sparked a whirlwind of online speculation in recent weeks about the identity of the anonymous celebrity. Walliams is a well-known name in the United Kingdom who rose to fame in the 2000s as the star of “Little Britain,” a popular BBC sketch show that poked fun at British archetypes, and later became best known for his children’s novels. In recent years, he has been dogged by allegations about his professional conduct, including reports that he had made derogatory and sexually explicit comments about contestants during the taping of an episode of the television show “Britain’s Got Talent,” for which he was a judge. The investigation The Guardian and ITV News published on Tuesday, which the two organizations had worked on since April 2023, was based on accounts from 30 people who accused Walliams of abusing his power to sexually assault. against women and targeting teenagers, some of whom met him when they were as young as 15 years old. A woman named in the investigation said Mr Walliams kissed her, touched her breast and tried to get her hands down his trousers when she was 15, which is below the legal age of consent in Britain: 16. “to keep in touch.” She told The Guardian that Mr Walliams had first messaged her on his Myspace page, where her date of birth was clearly visible. The Guardian and ITV News reported to the woman only as Jade, saying that she and several other women had spoken on condition of anonymity. Walliams’ lawyers told the media that Mr Walliams had denied having sexual contact with the woman. Another woman, who was given the alias Alex, told ITV News that she met Mr Walliams when she was 15 and had sexual relations with him when she was 17. She accused him of grooming her after she expressed interest in writing comedies. Sex was consensual and she was over the age of consent, she said that because they had met when she was 15 and he was an “authority figure,” she felt he had “used that power and abused that power.” Walliams’ lawyers told the media that he denied allegations that he had groomed her. None of the other cases cited appeared to involve non-consensual sexual contact or sexual contact with anyone under 16. his contacts with women had involved “an imbalance of power” because of his fame. But, he added, “Abusing that power is a completely different thing, and it’s something I never did.” After The Guardian and ITV News contacted Mr. Walliams for comment in May, he attempted suicide twice, and his lawyers secured a temporary injunction to argue in court that the allegations against him should not be published because of the risk to his life, “PPT.” speculation about the celebrity’s identity, leading to a strange situation in which his name was openly discussed on internet forums and on social media, especially by Scottish users who were not subject to the strict anonymity order, while editors based in England and Wales were prohibited from revealing his identity. The celebrity’s lawyers told the court that he had been hospitalized for months and had been subject to involuntary detention after his second suicide attempt. investigation would threaten his right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights. A lawyer for The Guardian and ITV News told the court there was no legal precedent for preventing media outlets from publishing articles because someone could be harmed. On November 3, the judge, Matthew Nicklin, rejected the celebrity’s request for a permanent injunction, but ordered him to remain anonymous until he decided whether to appeal the ruling. investigation as focused on the “alleged abuse of his power and status” by the celebrity to establish contact with young women, with whom he was accused of engaging or attempting to engage in “inappropriate sexual activity, including possible criminal activity to family relationships.” He added, however, that “journalism concerns matters of substantial public interest.” Walliams’ children’s books have sold tens of millions of copies, with popular titles such as “Gangsta Granny” (2013) and “The Midnight Gang” (2016). In recent years, British newspapers have reported a series of controversies involving Mr Walliams. In 2023, The Guardian reported details of a leaked transcript of “Britain’s Got Talent” in which Walliams made disparaging comments about contestants. At the time, Walliams apologized for the “disrespectful comments” and added in a statement: “These were private conversations and, like most conversations with friends, they were never intended to be shared.” He also sued the production company behind “Britain’s Got Talent” for breach of privacy; The parties reached an agreement and Mr. Walliams left the program. Last year, The Daily Telegraph, another newspaper, reported that Mr. Walliams’ publisher, HarperCollins, had decided to stop publishing new books of his after a junior member of staff made unspecified harassment allegations against him. Walliams’ agent told the newspaper at the time that the author denied having “behaved inappropriately”, had not been aware of the publisher’s internal investigation and was seeking legal advice. This fall, trade magazine The Bookseller and other British news outlets reported that HarperCollins was delisting Walliams’ books. On November 3, Alton Towers, a British theme park, announced that it would close an attraction themed around Walliams’ books. The decision came after “our periodic review of the resort’s attractions,” a park spokeswoman said in an emailed statement this month. In a statement to Parliament on Tuesday, Alex Davies-Jones, Britain’s justice minister, said the government was “concerned” about the use of injunctions and is “considering what more it can do to prevent abuse of process across the justice system.” Crisis Lifeline or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
