Britain's Got Talent 'operatives' deliberately 'leaked' the sexually explicit comments made by David Walliams that led to his departure from the show, it's been claimed.
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it → leak → show
In November 2022, Walliams stepped down from his role as judge on BGT after recordings of derogatory and sexually explicit comments he made about contestants were obtained and published by The Guardian.
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he → step → Guardian
Walliams made the comments during filming breaks in 2020 at the London Palladium auditions.
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Walliams → make → auditions
The recordings saw the star call one elderly contestant a 'c***' three times when they left the stage.
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they → see → stage
He also described another woman as 'like the slightly boring girl you meet in the pub that thinks you want to f*** them, but you don't'.
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you → describe → them
Journalist Marina Hyde has now claimed that it was BGT 'operatives' who leaked the recordings to 'get rid' of Walliams.
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who → claim → Walliams
'Did we know that people were trying to get rid of him?' Hyde asked during the conversation with co-host Richard Osman on their The Rest Is Entertainment podcast.
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Rest → know → podcast
Britain's Got Talent executives deliberately 'leaked' the sexually explicit comments made by David Walliams that led to his departure from the show, it's been claimed
'Operatives, I don't know who and I don't know at what level... who leaked those comments?
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who → leak → comments
They were trying to get rid, someone at some level in Britain's Got Talent was trying to get rid of him,' she continued.
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she → try → him
Hyde argued that 'two interesting things happened' after Walliams' leaked comments came to light.
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comments → argue → light
After his comments became public, Walliams sued BGT's producers Fremantle for misuse of his private information and breaching data protection laws.
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Walliams → become → laws
The former Little Britain star is said to have claimed in court documents that producers 'recorded, transcribed and retained' all his conversations during his decade-long stint and that he had no idea his microphone was 'kept on and recording' throughout the entire day of filming.
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microphone → say → filming
Walliams alleged 1,700 hours of audio recordings were collected, and said he had battled severe depression since the sacking and had experienced 'active suicidal thoughts'.
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he → allege → thoughts
An 'amicable resolution' was reached, with the production company apologising for the recording being made public.
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recording → reach → ?
Hyde asked why the comedian took legal action.
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comedian → ask → action
'Rather than leave that which you might have thought, you are a hugely well bestselling author perhaps why would you wish to excavate it?'
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you → leave → it
He sued them in the High Court in 2023 and he said, "Oh, you constantly transcribed."
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you → sue → 2023
He clearly thought that they had leaked it deliberately.'
Journalist Marina Hyde has claimed that it was BGT 'operatives' who leaked the recordings to 'get rid' of Walliams
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who → think → Walliams
She continued that because of Walliams' legal action 'we knew how he operated legally.
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he → continue → action
He has sent a message with that to everybody that he is incredibly litigious and he'll sue over anything even when it's best left alone.'
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it → send → anything
It has now been revealed that around the same time Walliams left BGT in November 2022, The Guardian made its first approach to the star about allegations of inappropriate conduct.
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Guardian → reveal → conduct
The allegations were denied and a story was not published.
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story → deny → ?
In May 2023, The Guardian and ITV News agreed to collaborate on an investigation into Walliams, the results of which were published on Tuesday.
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results → agree → Tuesday
Representatives for Fremantle and ITV have been contacted by the Daily Mail for comment.
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Representatives → contact → comment
Hyde's podcast co-host Richard Osman meanwhile has recalled working with Walliams early in his career, admitting that looking back he wishes he had done more to 'create an environment where everyone felt safe'.
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everyone → recall → environment
Before writing his hit Thursday Murder Club novels, Osman was an executive producer in television, creating the BBC show Pointless and working on other quiz shows for Hat Trick Productions and Endemol UK.
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Osman → write → Productions
At Hat Trick he worked with Walliams and his comedy partner Matt Lucas to write the 1999 Channel 4 sitcom Boyz Unlimited.
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he → work → sitcom
Osman recalled on The Rest Is Entertainment how he first met Walliams when the comedian was 21 and they worked on a computer game series together, but after Boyz Unlimited says 'we fell out, not for any exciting reasons, shortly afterwards and I didn't work with him again.'
In November 2022, Walliams stepped down from his role as judge on BGT after recordings of derogatory and sexually explicit comments he made about contestants were leaked
Noting that he has 'of course' followed Walliams' career, Osman admitted that 'I think it's hard for any man who worked in television in the 1990s and the 2000s to not feel like they failed, to not feel blind, to not feel some sense of shame about what has happened.'
'
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what → recall → shame
It's a sin of omission and not understanding you need to create an environment in which everybody felt safe.'
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everybody → understand → which
He continued by noting that whilst at the start of a career there is a lack of understanding about the industry, he looks back and 'you think if you'd started this stuff then if you'd really started understanding what was going on then and understood that the '90s laddy culture was not some kind of natural culture, it was a slightly weird aberration...
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it → continue → culture
It's tough looking back and it's horrific.
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it → look → ?
I'm delighted to still be around at a time when people are, you know, being found out and people are either going to prison in Russell Brand's case or at least being exposed in the case of Walliams.
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people → know → Walliams
And there will be more to come I suspect from that generation as well,' Osman continued.
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Osman → come → generation
He added that this week, which has also seen comedian Russell Brand sentenced to ten years in prison for rape and sexual assault, has felt like 'a reckoning and it's a wakeup call'.
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it → add → reckoning
'It would be lovely going forward to not make those same mistakes and to be able to put those things right, I think.
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I → go → things
'And there are a generation of TV men who I suspect would agree with me and and I suspect would do anything they can to try and find a route through it.
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they → be → it
'And also to feel just an awful depression and to think about, I don't know stuff that you miss and stuff you take for granted and stuff you don't realise and stuff you could have done and stuff you could have said.'
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you → feel → that
Hyde's podcast co-host Richard Osman meanwhile as recalled working with Walliams early in his career, admitting that looking back he wishes he had done more to 'create an environment where everyone felt safe'
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everyone → recall → environment
On Tuesday, the three-year joint investigation by ITV News and The Guardian revealed a series of allegations dating back to 2003, with some accusers being as young as 15.
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accusers → reveal → 15
Walliams denies all the allegations.
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Walliams → deny → allegations
…and 29 more, not listed.
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