David Walliams was repeatedly identified as someone female comedians should avoid in a private WhatsApp group, while schools were allegedly advised that he was “not an appropriate booking”, it was claimed.
Comedian Kate Smurthwaite said the group was created to allow women working in comedy to exchange warnings about men they considered unsafe or uncomfortable to work with on tours and in television studios.
Walliams, the 55-year-old children’s author and television personality, has denied allegations that he groomed schoolgirls, sexually assaulted a 15-year-old and repeatedly pursued teenagers for sex. He has insisted that he is “not a sexual predator”.
Ms Smurthwaite said Walliams’s name appeared “over and over” in the group, although he was not the only comedian described as “creepy as f***”.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, she said: “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.”
Messages shared from the group described one comic as “beyond rude, shambolic and largely audience-free”. Other members responded: “He is creepy as f***” and “So creepy, avoid him if you can.”
A separate exchange about another comedian 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 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 publishing professionals had expressed “real concerns” about Walliams’s conduct more than ten years ago and that she had personally been advised to avoid working with him.
Combi said: “We were discussing 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 excellent suggestions and then said: ‘Whatever you do, don’t invite David Walliams. And if you’re speaking to head teachers or teachers, please tell them that he’s not a good booking and not an appropriate booking for a school.’”
“I asked why and, to be honest, I had already heard quite a few rumours because those industries are small and closely connected.
“One of the things she told me was that there had been serious concerns about his behaviour around young female staff.”
Television executives are facing potential legal action to strengthen safeguards for girls and young women following the allegations involving Walliams and Russell Brand.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is due to meet broadcasters next week after claims that alleged misconduct by Walliams, like the allegations involving Brand, was an “open secret” within the entertainment industry.
Both men are alleged to have held considerable influence and commercial value for broadcasters, allowing concerns about their behaviour to go unchallenged.
Ms Nandy has promised to “draw a line in the sand” during talks with entertainment leaders and warned that legislation could follow if the industry fails to improve its practices.
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.”
Downing Street described the allegations concerning Walliams as “deeply troubling” and said there was “a pattern of behaviour that needs to change”.
Walliams, a former Britain’s Got Talent judge, has been accused of using his celebrity status to invite young women to his dressing room and to his £3.5 million home in north London.
Russell Brand and David Walliams are pictured together at the British Comedy Awards in London in December 2006
Several teenagers and young women made allegations of sexual misconduct during an investigation by The Guardian and ITV News. Walliams reportedly threatened to take his own life if the allegations were published, but was unable to obtain a court injunction blocking the Press from identifying him.
Walliams is understood to be receiving treatment in a psychiatric hospital, days after Brand, who was convicted of rape, was sentenced to more than ten years in prison.
Chatshow host Jonathan Ross, who knew both men, apologised for a tasteless joke made at the 2004 comedy awards suggesting that a 15-year-old was “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 previously been friendly with both men but added: “During that period I was genuinely unaware of their conduct.”
A photograph taken in 2003 shows Ross alongside Walliams and one of his accusers. Lilly Creightmore was 18 when Walliams invited her to stay at his house.
She told Newsnight: “One night I think he put his head in my lap and sort of said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to come and sleep in my bed with me?’ I had an inner strength that was like, ‘No’.”
Comedian Lucy Beaumont, one of the whistleblowers who contributed to the investigation, said a young television worker told her that his role was to take young women to Walliams’s dressing room.
She said the girls were over 16, but “were working-class girls and some had never been to London before”.
“I was worried these girls were young,” she said. “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 at the 2004 comedy awards about a 15-year-old “probably going home” with Walliams
Beaumont said one of the women was “in a really bad way” and that Walliams’s lawyers had asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to prevent her from speaking publicly.
She said the NDA, imposed on someone who she believed had been groomed as a child, prevented the woman from discussing what happened with her family or a therapist.
Television agent Dermot McNamara said he had raised concerns with “authorities and broadcasters” after a client, who was 16 when she was taken backstage at Britain’s Got Talent, was invited to Walliams’s home, where she allegedly experienced “inappropriate behaviour”.
He said he reported the alleged incident, which took place around ten years ago, but that no action followed.
Lou Teasdale, a former Britain’s Got Talent make-up artist, alleged that it was “standard protocol” for young women to sign NDAs and surrender their phones before being left alone with high-profile men.
HarperCollins, whose books by Walliams have sold more than 60 million copies, severed ties with him a year ago following allegations that he harassed young female employees. Walliams denies the claims.
Walliams has rejected 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 Britain’s Got Talent, had confirmed that “no complaint has ever been made to them about David Walliams”. The broadcaster added: “We are completely committed at ITV to creating an environment where everyone is treated with respect.”
Equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said the Government should place tighter restrictions on the use of NDAs and consider banning them in some circumstances.
