Jeremy Edwards has described the sexual humiliation he says he experienced when David Walliams invited him on stage for a Comic Relief sketch.
The British actor says the comedian pulled down his trousers, exposing him in front of an audience of around 3,500 people, before simulating a sex act involving him.
The incident was recorded for a DVD release that remains available online.
Edwards, who was previously engaged to S Club 7 singer Rachel Stevens, says he endured years of embarrassment after the performance despite believing he was the person who had been wronged.
The 55-year-old actor had agreed to appear in a Little Britain sketch with Walliams and comedian David Baddiel at London’s Hammersmith Apollo in November 2006.
However, Edwards now alleges that Walliams misled him and deliberately carried out the stunt. His account comes as Walliams faces separate reported allegations concerning his conduct toward women and teenage girls, which he has not been convicted of.
Jeremy Edwards has spoken publicly about the shame he says followed his appearance in the notorious “hide the sausage” sketch with David Walliams
Edwards, who became known through Channel Four soap Hollyoaks, says the incident was unacceptable and that he believes it was planned in advance
Edwards says Walliams tickled him until he raised his arms, then pulled down his trousers. When Edwards bent down to pull them up, he says Walliams tackled him and climbed on top of him in front of the packed theatre
The actor says the incident still angers him almost two decades later because he was not warned what would happen and has been haunted by the experience
Speaking about the incident for the first time to Our News Outlet, Edwards said: “It was abuse. I did not agree to it.
“You cannot do that to someone. Having your trousers pulled down and being left in your boxer shorts is one thing. Having your penis exposed is entirely different.
“I had no idea that was going to happen. I am angry because why would anyone think I would be comfortable with it?
“If they had asked, ‘We are going to expose you in front of everyone — do you agree?’ the answer would have been no.
“This is about consent, and I did not consent.
“In reality, it happened in an instant. It is all on video.
“If I had known I would be exposed in front of thousands of people, recorded on a DVD that sold widely and later placed online indefinitely, I would never have agreed.
“He knew what he intended to do and had no hesitation in doing it.
“It is not something I am proud of, but I am the victim here. I wish it had never happened.
“It was meant to be a bit of fun, but instead it has stayed with me for years.”
Edwards, who is the same age as Walliams, said he had never received an apology.
For years, Edwards said, he assumed the incident had gone further than intended and that Walliams had not meant to take the joke that far.
He later saw footage showing the comedian performing similar stunts involving other members of the public, changing his understanding of what happened.
“I did not realise it had been deliberate,” he said.
“Only recently, after seeing footage from earlier shows, did I understand that this had always been the plan. Pulling down my trousers was not an accident.
“They brought me onto the stage intending to do it. There are videos of him doing similar things to other men, sometimes going further — pulling down their trousers, grabbing their ankles and spinning them around for the audience.
“I feel foolish that I thought I could not say anything. For members of the public, that pressure must be even greater.”
The sketch later became one of the most prominent segments in the 2007 DVD Comic Relief Does Little Britain Live.
The release featured Walliams and comedy partner Matt Lucas alongside celebrities including Jonathan Ross, Dawn French, Russell Brand and Peter Kay.
Edwards, known at the time for his youthful appearance, said he accepted the invitation at short notice after Blue singer Duncan James withdrew.
The father of two, who rose to fame in Hollyoaks and later appeared in medical drama Holby City, attended the event with his wife Lydia and a friend.
In the sketch, Walliams played Des Kay, a fictional former children’s entertainer and television presenter portrayed as sexually predatory.
Footage that later circulated online shows the character playing “hide the sausage” before lunging at Edwards and pulling down his jeans and underwear.
Recalling the events, Edwards said: “I was contacted on the day of the show because Duncan from Blue had pulled out at the last minute. He was originally due to perform with David Baddiel.
Edwards says he went to the toilets afterward to be alone and process what had happened. His wife Lydia, pictured, was concerned about him
“The idea was that David Walliams’ character fancied mine. They wanted someone with the same kind of teenage poster appeal as Duncan.
“I was keen to take part, particularly because it involved David Walliams and Russell Brand, who were then major comedy stars.
“I was given a short script. It introduced the character and said he played a particular game.
“The joke was that he fancied me, kept falling over me and behaved inappropriately. He was meant to chase me around the stage trying to pull down my trousers. I thought of it as a Benny Hill-style routine.
“I agreed to do it. The audience included Jonathan Ross, Dawn French and Kate Moss, among many others.
“I was nervous. He brought me out of the audience and onto the stage. When the moment came, he was very calculated.
“He tickled me under the arms, causing me to pull my arms toward my chest. He then dropped to his knees and pulled down both my trousers and underwear, leaving me exposed from the waist down in front of 3,500 people.
“I bent down to pull my clothes up, and while I was off balance he knocked me over. He climbed on top of me, and I felt sexually humiliated. The audience laughed loudly.
“I could not get him off me. I am 6ft 2ins, but he is a large, strong man. I ended up tapping out like a wrestler and saying, ‘Get off me.’ I eventually stood up and pulled my trousers back on.
“I was not expecting it at all. If I had been told I would be exposed in front of the audience, I would not have agreed. I did not want to be humiliated in that way, but that is what happened.
“I was angry, but mostly embarrassed and humiliated. It was deeply uncomfortable.
“I went to the toilet to get away. I was supposed to return to the auditorium, but I felt like a fool and did not want to go back.
“I waited at the bar for my wife Lydia, who expected me to return to our seats. People kept coming over and laughing about what had happened.
“When my wife arrived, she asked whether I was all right. She felt sorry for me because it had been so embarrassing.
“Most people treated it as a joke, apart from Rufus Sewell, who was kind enough to ask whether I was okay because he could see I was not.
“Walliams then came over and said, ‘Of course he’s all right — he got the biggest laugh of the night.’”
Russell Brand was among the performers featured in the Comic Relief sketch video
Jonathan Ross was also among the celebrities attending the performance
“I was made to feel foolish for being humiliated. It seemed to suggest that because the audience had laughed, what happened did not matter.
“I was not comfortable with it, but peer pressure made me feel I had to pretend I was.
“I felt stupid. The next day, a newspaper accused me of being a bad sport and throwing a tantrum because I did not attend the curtain call.”
“It was an extraordinary line-up and I felt lucky to be involved. I was only a small part, but what happened made the sketch popular and it went straight onto the DVD.
“They sent me a copy, but I have never watched it. David never apologised or asked if I was okay. What upsets me most is that it was planned. I only understood that recently, and it showed a lack of respect.
“I knew David. We were neighbours in Primrose Hill and used to walk our dogs together.
“He could have warned me. He could at least have shown common courtesy.
“I had considered him a friend. It makes me angry that he brought me into that situation intending to do it.
“The fact that it was always the plan is painful. You cannot simply say, ‘Get over it, it was a joke, everyone laughed.’ You cannot treat people that way.
“Now the clip has gone viral again. I do not know how many millions of views it has received. When I perform in a theatre, people search for me online and say, ‘My God, did that happen to you?’
“I was a reasonably established man working in the industry, yet I felt unable to object. That shows how much pressure people outside the industry may feel when confronted by powerful figures.
“I left feeling that I had been a bad sport, but it was not okay. Then they put it on the DVD because they thought a man being humiliated in front of thousands of people was funny.
“I am angry about it now. I think I always was, but I did not feel able to say so.”
Edwards continues to work as an actor and writer, while earning much of his income through public-speaking training.
He said he could not know for certain whether the incident had affected his career, but described it as “the bane of my life.”
“It is never going to disappear. Instead of leaving with a small boost to my career after giving my time to charity, I left feeling completely humiliated. It remains online and keeps resurfacing.
“Nobody apologised to me.
“When David left Britain’s Got Talent, I was told people wanted me to speak publicly about what happened. I declined because I had a misguided sense of loyalty and believed it had been an accidental incident. He thanked me for staying quiet.”
Explaining why he had decided to speak out, Edwards said: “For me, the key issues are the planning and the pressure I felt.
“I thought it had been a mishap, believed he was a decent person and did not want to add to his problems. But it was deliberate, and I no longer feel I should protect him.
“Society should not accept this kind of behaviour or allow people to believe they are untouchable.
“It was a major event, and I felt privileged to be part of it. Instead, I became the target of the joke.
“I was surrounded by people I admired, yet I was in a great deal of pain.
“I was deceived. I feel like a fool.
Walliams, pictured in January, was identified this week as the celebrity linked to an injunction concerning claims about his alleged conduct toward teenage girls and young women
“I may end up being remembered as the man who was humiliated by David Walliams on stage.”
Walliams has previously offered his own account of the incident, saying: “I performed it with Holby City actor Jeremy Edwards and pulled down his trousers.
“His underwear came down as well, which was a mistake.
“It is an easy mistake to make. But I did expose him to thousands of people at the Hammersmith Apollo. I felt bad afterward — although perhaps not bad enough.”
Walliams performed similar versions of the sketch during the Little Britain Live Tour, which began in the UK in 2005, and during a 32-date Australian tour in 2007.
In 2007, the BBC broadcast a documentary featuring Walliams performing the routine during a Little Britain stage show in Australia, where three teenage males from the audience were selected.
The footage, which included simulated sex acts and apparent kissing of the participants’ buttocks, caused a renewed backlash after reappearing on social media in 2020.
It showed Walliams appearing to grope and humiliate three males said to be aged between 16 and 18 while performing the same routine.
READ MORE: The concerned message David Walliams’ former wife Lara Stone sent to a teenage fan he had invited to his Supernova Heights home — as KATIE HIND reports what she saw when she met the young woman
