David Walliams named as celebrity at centre of inappropriate sexual conduct allegations
Former Little Britain star David Walliams has been named after missing a deadline to appeal a High Court ruling over an injunction blocking publication of allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct. He denies all allegations.
David Walliams has been revealed as the celebrity behind an injunction to prevent the publication of allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct.
The High Court judge previously dismissed Walliams' bid to prevent the publication of the allegations, but granted him permission to appeal and temporarily kept his identity secret. However, the comedian-and-writer missed a 4.30pm deadline on Monday (09.11.26) to take the case to the Court of Appeal, meaning he can now be named.
A three-year joint investigation by ITV News and The Guardian has revealed a series of allegations dating back to 2003 that Walliams contacted teenage girls and young women for sexual purposes.
Walliams, 55, took legal action against Guardian News and Media (GNM), publisher of The Guardian, and Independent Television News (ITN), which produces news programmes for ITV and other channels, to block publication of the allegations and to keep his name hidden.
Walliams tried to stop the claims from being made public because of a risk that he would take his own life, following two previous attempts on his own life. The High Court accepted that publication would substantially increase the risk to his life, but ruled that this did not justify an injunction preventing the media from reporting allegations that were considered to be of substantial public interest.
Multiple women have accused Walliams of "grooming" them when they were teenagers, with one alleged victim claiming the former Britain's Got Talent star first contacted her when she was 15, after meeting her at a Little Britain fan event, before beginning a sexual relationship with her when she was 17. Walliams denies the allegations.
Walliams is also accused of inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment at Britain's Got Talent and at his former book publisher HarperCollins.
His entire children's book catalogue was taken out of publication by HarperCollins in September, despite him selling 60 million copies of his novels, which began with 2008's The Boy in the Dress. Walliams had already been dropped by HarperCollins last year after it was reported that he had "harassed" young female staff.
Walliams has denied all the allegations made against him.
In a statement to The Guardian and ITV News, the comedian said: "Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with… I realise I did not always take people's feelings properly into account. That is something I regret.
"And 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…
"I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law… I am devastated that some of the women I met ten to twenty years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me."
In November 2022, Walliams quit as a judge on Simon Cowell's ITV show Britain's Got Talent after lewd comments he made about contestants were leaked.
