Jonathan Ross “Horrified” by Walliams Allegations as UK Ministers Act
TV presenter Jonathan Ross said he was horrified by allegations against David Walliams, as Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy summoned entertainment leaders over safeguarding. Walliams denies wrongdoing. Sky has dropped his film Fing!, and the Metropolitan Police has contacted potential victims.
Jonathan Ross, David Walliams’s former friend and a fellow TV presenter, said he was “horrified” by allegations of sexual misconduct against the comedian, as UK ministers moved to question entertainment bosses about safeguarding. Walliams denies any wrongdoing.
In a statement, Ross said he was “as horrified by the revelations about David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand as the rest of the nation”. He said he had once been on friendly terms with both men and was “genuinely unaware of their conduct” at the time.
Allegations and denial
Walliams, 55, stands accused by several women of sexually inappropriate behaviour. Two say he groomed them when they were 15. The claims came a day after Brand, 51, was jailed for 10-and-a-half years for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others.
The allegations come from a three-year joint investigation by the Guardian and ITV News. Walliams’s lawyers went to the High Court to try to stop publication and lost.
Walliams says he is “not a sexual predator” and is “devastated” by the accusations. In a letter to journalists, he said he had not “broken the law” but regretted not always taking “people’s feelings properly into account”.
A photograph resurfaced during ITV’s reporting showing Ross beside Walliams at an event that one of the accusers also attended. Lawyers for Walliams say he denies behaving inappropriately.
Government response
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called the allegations the “latest in a long line of reported abuses of power”. She has summoned leaders from broadcasting, publishing, film and entertainment to a meeting next week.
She is understood to be ready to force industry participation in the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, a body that protects whistleblowers and is currently voluntary, if the response is not robust enough.
Media minister Ian Murray told MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee that he was “deeply saddened and also angry”. He called it “a cultural problem and that culture has to change”.
Women and Equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said there was “scope to go further” on limits to non-disclosure agreements. “We cannot have a system where rich and powerful individuals, rich and powerful men, are able to silence women,” she said.
Police and business fallout
The Metropolitan Police said it contacted the Guardian and ITV News so potential victims know how to report criminal allegations. The force has not said it is carrying out a criminal investigation.
Sky said it is exiting its position as UK and Ireland licensee of Walliams’s film Fing!. It has also removed content featuring him from its platforms. “The allegations made against David Walliams are extremely serious,” a Sky spokesperson said.
Zelda Perkins, who broke a non-disclosure agreement in 2017 to speak about Harvey Weinstein’s treatment of women, said it should be mandatory for sectors to join the standards body. “You can’t change the humans, you can change the rules around them,” she said.
