‘David Walliams got here up over and over within the feminine comics’ WhatsApp group’: Comedian Kate Smurthwaite reveals mates warned one another ‘about males within the business’
David Walliams was repeatedly named as a man to avoid on a female comics’ WhatsApp group and schools were allegedly warned he was ‘not an appropriate booking’, it was claimed today.
Comedian Kate Smurthwaite said the group had been set up specifically so women in comedy could share concerns about men they believed should be given a wide berth on tour and in television studios.
The children’s author and TV star, 55, has denied allegations that he groomed schoolgirls, sexually assaulted a 15-year-old and pestered teenagers for sex, insisting he is ‘not a sexual predator’.
Ms Smurthwaite said Walliams ‘came up over and over’ again – but he was not the only comedian raised in the group as being ‘creepy as f***’.
She told BBC Newsnight: ‘Walliams is a name that came up over and over and over again. In particular, there was a sense of concern about him working with young people and new acts, people coming onto the circuit who maybe weren’t as wise and experienced as the rest of us.
‘It’s a name that’s been there from the get-go.
‘People were saying they knew individuals who had worked with him and either felt very uncomfortable and left, or stayed and felt his behaviour was inappropriate.’
Sharing messages from the group, one comic was described as ‘beyond rude, shambolic and largely audience-free’, prompting replies including: ‘He is creepy as f***’ and ‘So creepy, avoid him if you can.’
Another comedian was discussed in a message that read: ‘Yeah, I shared a car with him a couple of months ago. He’s awful. I’ve warned promoters about him since then, but I keep seeing he still gets booked.’
The moment Alex, then 15, met Walliams at a Little Britain fan event. Walliams was dressed as his character Lou. One author claimed that she was warned that he was not an appropriate booking for schools
Messages on a WhatsApp group for female comics warning and naming ‘creepy’ male colleagues
Author Chloe Combi said there had been ‘real concerns’ about Walliams’s behaviour within publishing circles more than a decade ago and that she had been warned to steer clear.
Ms Combi added: ‘We were talking about the scheme and possible writers who might be good for the project and work well with teenagers.
British stand-up comedian Kate Smurthwaite claims David Walliams was repeatedly named as a man to avoid on a female comics’ WhatsApp group
‘She gave me some great recommendations and said: “Whatever you do, don’t invite David Walliams. And if you’re speaking to head teachers or teachers, please inform them that he’s not a good booking and not an appropriate booking for a school.”
‘I obviously asked why and, to be honest, I had already heard quite a lot of rumours because those worlds are quite small and contained.
‘One of the things she said was that there had been real concerns about his behaviour around young female staff.’
TV chiefs face a legal crackdown to make them protect girls from predatory entertainers following the Walliams and Russell Brand scandals.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is hauling broadcasters in for a showdown next week after it was claimed that Walliams’ alleged preying on young women was – as with Brand – an ‘open secret’ in the industry.
Both are said to have become so powerful, and were so lucrative for broadcasters, their behaviour went unchallenged.
Ms Nandy vowed to ‘draw a line in the sand’ when she meets entertainment leaders – threatening laws to clean up the industry if they do not act.
She said: ‘A decade and a half on from the revelations about Jimmy Savile, and ten years on from the MeToo movement, we must finally take meaningful steps to end abuse and harassment.’
No10 called the Walliams allegations ‘deeply troubling’, and said there was ‘a pattern of behaviour that needs to change’.
Former Britain’s Got Talent (BGT) judge Walliams allegedly used his star power to lure young women to his dressing room and his £3.5million north London house.
Russell Brand and David Walliams are pictured together at the British Comedy Awards in London in December 2006
A string of teenagers and young women made allegations of sexual misconduct to an investigation by The Guardian and ITV News. Walliams threatened to kill himself if they were published, but failed to secure a court injunction preventing the Press from naming him.
Walliams is understood to be in a psychiatric hospital, just days after rapist Brand was jailed for more than ten years.
Chatshow host Jonathan Ross, who knew both, apologised for a tasteless joke he made to the 2004 comedy awards about a 15-year-old ‘probably going home’ with Walliams.
Ross said he was ‘horrified by the revelations about David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand’. He said he had once been friendly with both, adding: ‘During that period I was genuinely unaware of their conduct.’
A photo from 2003 shows Ross with Walliams and one of his accusers. Lilly Creightmore was 18 when Walliams invited her to stay at his home.
She told Newsnight: ‘One night I think he put his head in my lap and sort of be like, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to come and sleep in my bed with me?’ I had an inner strength, like ‘No’.’
Comedian Lucy Beaumont, one of the investigation’s whistleblowers, said a young TV worker told her ‘his job was to take young girls to Walliams’ dressing room’.
The youngsters were over 16, she said, but ‘were working-class girls and some had never been to London before’.
She said: ‘I was worried these girls were young. I tried to contact some of them to ask if they were all right.’
Chatshow host Jonathan Ross (pictured on Wednesday) apologised yesterday for a tasteless joke he made to the 2004 comedy awards about a 15-year-old ‘probably going home’ with Walliams
One was ‘in a really bad way’ and Walliams’ lawyers had told her to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to secure her silence.
Ms Beaumont said the NDA ‘against someone who was groomed as a child’ stopped her telling her family or a therapist.
Hi, I’m Alex Matthews, Editor of The Crime Desk.
Russell Brand has been found guilty of rape and three sexual assaults – and our reporters Caroline Cheetham and Liz Hull were in court every day to witness it all. They sat down with Detective Inspector Laura Nelson who revealed why the women who accused him in the infamous documentary were not involved in his rape trial.
Dermot McNamara, a TV agent, said he raised concerns with ‘authorities and broadcasters’ about Walliams after a client, who was 16 when she was taken backstage at BGT, was invited to Walliams’ home where allegedly ‘inappropriate behaviour’ happened.
He said he reported the incident, which allegedly took place ten years ago, but nothing happened.
Former BGT make-up artist Lou Teasdale claimed it was ‘standard protocol’ for young girls to be made to sign NDAs – and have their phones taken away – before being left alone with famous men.
HarperCollins, which sold more than 60million copies of Walliams’ books, dumped him a year ago over claims that he harassed young female staff, which he denies.
Walliams has denied all the allegations. His lawyers said he had never groomed young women or had sex with underage girls.
ITV said Fremantle, the production company behind BGT, had confirmed ‘that no complaint has ever been made to them about David Walliams’, adding: ‘We are completely committed at ITV to creating an environment where everyone is treated with respect.’
Equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said the Government should restrict the use of NDAs – and even consider a ban.
