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(Warning: This article contains depictions of sexual assault)
ITV News and the Guardian newspaper reported on the 10th that multiple women have accused famous British comedian and children's author David Williams (real name: David Williams) of sexual misconduct. One woman said she was assaulted when she was 15 years old.
ITV and the Guardian have been working together for three years to cover Mr Walliams' allegations. He had filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to prevent the publication of the contents, but the High Court in London rejected the suit on the 3rd. The High Court's president told Mr Walliams he could appeal, but after the deadline for filing an appeal had passed, the companies decided to go ahead with the news.
Walliams shot to fame in the early 2000s when he co-starred in the BBC skit Little Britain alongside Matt Lucas. He has since been a judge on ITV's Britain's Got Talent and published a series of best-selling children's books.
Some of the women have said they were "groomed" by Walliams when they were teenagers. Grooming refers to acts in which adults attempt to build trusting relationships with young people for the purpose of exploitation and abuse. One woman described what happened to her and Mr Walliams when she was 15 as a "sexual assault".
In a letter to reporters published by the Guardian, Mr Walliams said he was "not a sexual predator" and insisted he had "never broken any laws".
Mr Walliams wrote in the letter that he "realized that I had acted in some inconsiderate ways at times with the people I had casual sexual relationships with" and regretted that he had "not always taken proper account of their feelings".
"While it is inevitable that there will be an imbalance of power when one party is a public figure, it is quite another thing to abuse that power, and I have never done anything like that," he wrote. "I am not a sexual predator. I have never broken any laws. However, I am deeply troubled that women I met 10 to 20 years ago are now claiming they were hurt by me and expressing their anger."
The Metropolitan Police said it had contacted the Guardian and ITV News to "ensure anyone who may have been affected knows how to contact police".
According to the Guardian and ITV News, several women who did not know each other allege that Mr Walliams made unwanted sexual advances towards them.
Claims of harm include:
Mr Walliams had brought legal action against Independent Television News (ITN), which produces ITV News, and Guardian News and Media (GNM), the publisher of the Guardian, in an attempt to prevent the publication of the report.
In response, both news organizations argued that reporting the claims was in the public interest.
Walliams denies the women's claims. The lawyer in charge had argued that the court should prevent Walliams from publishing or broadcasting the interview, as he has twice attempted suicide in the past and there is a "very high possibility" that he would commit suicide if the interview was published.
On the 3rd, a High Court judge rejected Walliams' argument. The Guardian and ITV published the story after Mr Walliams failed to appeal within the appeal deadline.
Following the report on the 10th, Walliams' longtime literary agent, Independent Talent Group, confirmed that their contract had been terminated.
A BBC spokesperson described the reported allegations as "serious". In June 2020, the BBC removed ``Little Britain'' from its domestic distribution services ``iPlayer'', Netflix, and Britbox after some of the characters were criticized.
Britain's Sky also described the allegations as "extremely serious" and said it had halted production on "Fing!," a fantasy film based on Walliams' children's book, and "has already removed content featuring him from our platforms."
Psycho Entertainment, which produced the audition show ``Britain's Got Talent,'' said, ``We had no knowledge of the allegations mentioned in the article, nor were we informed at the time.''
Fremantle UK, the show's production company, said it had "not received any complaints" against Mr Walliams and urged anyone who feels they have been the victim of inappropriate or fraudulent behavior by someone to come forward.
HarperCollins announced that it was terminating Walliams' contract following an internal investigation. The company announced earlier this year that it would also stop publishing Walliams' past works.
(English article: David Walliams accused of sexual misconduct after losing injunction bid)
