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He was one of the most successful comedians and entertainers of his generation whose second career as a children’s author saw him rack up global sales worth tens of millions of pounds.
But first he was dumped by Simon Cowell for being cruel, then his famous Little Britain show was retrospectively branded racist before finally being dropped by his publisher for alleged inappropriate behaviour towards female staff.
Now, the Daily Mail can reveal, the cancellation of David Walliams is complete – as he is understood to no longer represent the handful of remaining charities where he had been a celebrity patron or ambassador.
Walliams has been, for instance, removed as a director and trustee of the The Candy Foundation, a good cause run by millionaire property developer Nick Candy.
He had held the post since 2020, but the position was ‘terminated’ earlier this month at the charity established by entrepreneur Nick and his then wife Holly Valance.
Walliams was also a celebrity patron of the theatre charity MGC Futures alongside stars like Dame Judi Dench, Dawn French, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Daniel Radcliffe, Sheridan Smith, Aidan Turner and Ben Whishaw – but Walliams has since been removed from their website.
Walliams was also axed as an ambassador for a leading youngsters’ charity, The Children’s Trust, in December.
He is still listed as a patron for the charity, but a spokesperson said this week that the role of all patrons were being reviewed and that Walliams’ role had been ‘dormant’ for 15 years.
Having sold more than 60 million copies in 55 languages, some of David Walliams’s (pictured) other books, including Gangsta Granny and Billionaire Boy, have also been adapted into television films
Clinging onto his last hopes of fame, Walliams now fronts a podcast with his former Little Britain co-star Matt Lucas, named Making A Scene (pictured together in Come Fly With Me)
Walliams decided to leave Britain’s Got Talent after he was forced to apologise for describing an elderly contestant as a ‘c***’ and making vile sexual remarks about a woman taking part
The loss of his patron or ambassador status with such charities is likely to be a severe blow to the comedian’s self-esteem as it has long been a core component of his public persona.
He was appointed an OBE in 2017 for his services to charity and he has been unusually devoted to the sector ever since he first attained a public profile.
He swam both the Thames and the English Channel to raise more than £1million for Sport Relief, and throughout the period was a prominent star performer in the BBC’s annual Comic Relief or ‘red nose day’ charity fundraiser.
A charity sector source said: ‘He was once one of the most committed celebrities in terms of supporting a large number of charities. But no charity wants to be associated with David Walliams any longer after all the negative headlines – they’re just slower to act than larger media companies.’
These latest snubs come just two months after Walliams was dramatically dropped by longtime publisher Harper Collins shortly before Christmas – when a new chief executive took over and was made aware of repeated claims made about one of their most lucrative assets.
Walliams was said to be accused of ‘harassing’ junior female employees at the firm with one having been awarded a five-figure payout and has since left the company.
Others were allegedly told not to attend meetings with him or visit his home unless accompanied.
All the claims have been denied by Walliams.
Dropping Walliams brought to an end an extraordinary run of literary success encompassing some 43 titles and 60 million sales.
His work was translated into 55 languages and compared to children’s writing icon Roald Dahl.
After Harper Collins sacked him, Walliams was also pulled from a Waterstone’s children’s book festival.
The Daily Mail revealed last month that the author, who used to sell out personal appearances to thousands of young readers, was now appearing before an audience of under 50 children when he hosted a ‘storytelling adventure for kids and families’ at a pub near to his home in north London.
His cancellation as writer came just three years after he was sacked from his high profile TV role as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent, a role he had held for over a decade.
Walliams (pictured) has faced a downturn over the past few years, despite being one of Britain’s most successful children’s authors
This came after it emerged that he had been caught on camera making derogatory and sexually explicit remarks about contestants during the recording of an episode of the ITV show, Britain’s Got Talent.
Walliams was recorded referring to one contestant as a ‘c***’ and saying of another: ‘She thinks you want to f*** her, but you don’t.’
The remarks were made during a recorded audition for the talent show when Walliams was apparently unaware that mics were on.
Britain’s Got Talent production company Fremantle later apologised and settled with Walliams over the leaks.
The ensuing row saw his enormously successful multi-media career go into a freefall collapse that he has not been able to arrest.
His relationship with BGT founder and front man Simon Cowell – to whom he had previously been close – never recovered after the embarrassment this caused.
And the pair are said to be no longer on speaking terms.
After leaving BGT David revealed he suffered suicidal thoughts and at times thought he’d ‘lost his ability to be funny’.
He said he had instead turned to his passion for writing as a release – but that door has now closed too.
As well as fresh allegations his fall from grace has also seen the widespread critical reappraisal of the show on which he first found fame, Little Britain, the BBC sketch show in which he co-starred with Matt Lucas from 2003-6.
It was enormously popular at the time but has since been mired in suggestions that it was racist, sexist and homophobic.
Netflix pulled the show along with Come Fly With Me, also created by David and Matt.
Later the BBC and BritBox both confirmed they had also decided to remove Little Britain saying ‘times have changed’ since the show first aired.
One episode that left Walliams looking particularly bad was a routine used repeatedly during the touring version of the live show in 2005-6 in which Walliams played the part of predatory children’s entertainer named Des Kaye.
He would select a young man from the audience and proceed to pull their trousers and pants down and writhe on and kiss and grope them intimately.
Walliams has insisted: ‘It always brought the house down… not a single person ever complained.’
But there have since been many complaints – that it was in poor taste.
Walliams has had to navigate this collapse in his popularity as a single man.
He has been single since his divorce from Lara Stone a decade ago, the mother of his 12-year-old son.
Walliams and Lara Stone divorced in 2015 after a five-year marriage, during which they welcomed their son (pictured in 2014)
As work dried up and he struggled to get back into mainstream TV, a year ago he launched a podcast which reunited him with Lucas, Making A Scene.
It launched with an attempt to make light of Walliams’ troubles: in the trailer Lucas teased him: ‘Hang on, I thought you were cancelled?’
While engulfed in the ongoing cancellation storm, Walliams has stayed off social media – only returning to Instagram where he has 2 million followers once to share a birthday tribute with a media friend, a diminishing category for the once huge star.