David Walliams appears to have happily put his Britain’s Got Talent days to rest as he has been focusing on his career as a children’s book author and posting countless pictures of his dog friends on social media.
But the 51-year-old comedian has a long history of controversies, with the most recent one leading to a dramatic exit from the ITV talent competition earlier this year.
Since then, telly bosses have replaced the Little Britain star with former Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli, who joined Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon on the judging panel of the series’ 16th series that launched in April.
READ MORE: David Walliams snubs Britain’s Got Talent series launch to promote new book
The dad-of-one has a long career in the entertainment industry, leaving room for unfortunate mistakes and eventually, his Britain’s Got Talent downfall.
Provocative skits about gay people
(Image: ITV)
David’s first skit that gained a lot of backlash can be traced back to 2006, when he performed a “Hide the Sausage” sketch numerous times during the Little Britain Live tour.
The comedian portrayed a fictional, gay, former children’s entertainer and sex offender named Des Kaye, and would invite the audience to play games, including kissing attempts and pulling their trousers down.
A clip of the skit, which first aired on the BBC in 2007, resurfaced in 2020, and showed David saying: “You’ve got to know the boundaries.
“That’s funny but if I started exposing their penis or something, it would just be horrible then, it would just be abuse.”
The skit has since been condemned by LGBTQ+ advocates.
Unpolitically correct and yellow-face
(Image: Getty Images)
Making light of dark topics has long been a behavioural pattern throughout David’s career.
He once dressed as the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for Halloween, in 2017.
Taking to his at-the-time Twitter account (now rebranded X), the former Britain’s Got Talent judge shared a picture of the questionable costume, consisting of a black suit, a wig, and artificial prosthetics that appeared to alter his eyelids and hairline.
People were quick to call David’s costume out for racism and perpetuating “yellow-face”.
Others commented on the comedian’s insensitivity towards a politician who is notorious for violating human rights.
Racist jokes on Little Brain
(Image: Dymond/Thames/Syco/REX/Shutterstock)
In 2020, Little Britain was removed from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox, as objections resurfaced to some of the sketch show’s characters.
David was accused of continuously using blackface and stereotypes to portray black, disabled, working class, transgender, and gay people.
David and fellow comedian Matt Lucas have since apologised on social media, with them each writing: “We have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races.
“Once again, we want to make it clear that it was wrong and we are very sorry.”
The C-word in leaked audio
(Image: ITV)
The BBC star’s controversial past came all to light this year as a result of leaked recordings which saw him bad mouth a number of contestants during audition stage episodes in 2020.
The derogatory remarks were recorded during an audition show at the London Palladium in January 2020, and saw David call an elderly contestant a “c**t” three times while speaking to an unknown party at the judges table.
Sexual comments about female contestants
(Image: PA)
In another recording, he was overheard referencing his erection and making sexually explicit comments about a female contestant.
In November 2022, David quit the ITV show after 10 years. A source told The Sun: “He hasn’t taken the decision lightly, but it just feels like time to move on.”
Multiple celebrities came out expressing their disappointment over the leaked recordings, with Katie Waissel, who came seventh in the singing show in 2010, demanding in November 2022 that there be an “emergency stop” to filming all reality TV shows until better conditions are put in place.
The 36-year-old, who was relentlessly trolled on the X Factor, also claims she was the victim of sexual assault and “mistreatment” while working in the showbiz industry.
Call out and apologies
(Image: ITV)
When another female contestant walked off stage David could be heard in the leaked recording saying: “She thinks you want to f**k her, but you don’t.”
He added later: “No I don’t! I had a bit of a b***r, but now it’s going, it’s now shrivelled up inside my body.”
Fellow judge Piers Morgan called the scandal the “tip of the iceberg” and called David “one of the biggest frauds in TV”.
David, who starred on the show for 10 years , apologised for his comments and told The Guardian: “I would like to apologise to the people I made disrespectful comments about during breaks in filming for Britain’s Got Talent in 2020.
“These were private conversations and – like most conversations with friends – were never intended to be shared. Nevertheless, I am sorry.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
