In the wake of explosive allegations of sexual misconduct against David Walliams, a picture is emerging of behaviour that insiders now describe as an "open secret" within British showbusiness circles. Despite casual warnings about his conduct reportedly circulating far and wide across the industry for years, a startling number of household names, prominent entertainers, and high-profile figures were still willing to socialise with him, vacation by his side, and collaborate on professional projects right up until late last autumn.
The allegations, which became public following a joint investigative report by ITN and The Guardian, accuse Walliams of abusing his status during his time on Little Britain and Britain’s Got Talent (BGT), alongside engaging in inappropriate and exploitative sexual activities involving a large number of young women and girls. Walliams has categorically denied any wrongdoing, releasing a statement asserting that he is not a sexual predator, though he acknowledged that he regrets not always taking people’s feelings properly into account during past casual relationships.
Even as rumblings of his behaviour began trickling into the public forum late last year, the entertainment industry’s elite maintained close personal and professional ties with the comedian. Last summer, Sir Elton John and his husband, David Furnish—longstanding friends of Walliams—holidayed with him in the South of France. A video shared by Walliams at the time captured him dancing exuberantly around Sir Elton, who remained seated in a restaurant as Walliams grooved to Whitney Houston’s 1987 hit, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody." To date, neither Sir Elton nor Mr Furnish has made a public statement regarding the allegations.
Similarly, other prominent figures continued to work alongside him. Walliams co-hosted the short-lived podcast Making A Scene alongside his longtime collaborator Matt Lucas. The podcast featured famous guests turning their own lives into cinematic masterpieces while discussing them in depth with Walliams and Lucas, leaning heavily into the pair’s signature blend of innuendo and dark humour.
A diverse roster of major celebrities appeared on the podcast last year to promote their work, including Natalie Cassidy, Alesha Dixon, Sally Dynevor, Michael Ball, David Schwimmer, Jack Whitehall, Prue Leith, David Baddiel, and Rob Brydon. There is no suggestion that these named stars, many of whom have children and daughters of their own, were aware of any alleged misconduct during their appearances. At the time of publication, most of these public figures had chosen to remain silent on the unfolding scandal.
The podcast quietly wound down its operations last October before its social media channels went dark entirely. Weeks later, news broke that book publisher HarperCollins had dropped Walliams as an author following the internal and public emergence of misconduct claims. By Thursday, the podcast’s Instagram page had been completely deleted.
Further complicating the timeline of public association, Walliams appeared on the 2025 Christmas special of the BBC’s hit panel show Would I Lie To You?. Sharing the stage with team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell, alongside fellow guests Jools Holland, Swarzy Shire, and Helen George, Walliams performed a Nazi salute twice during the recording—an incident that the BBC was subsequently forced to edit out of the broadcast.
Meanwhile, the silence from Walliams’ inner circle has drawn intense scrutiny. His closest friend and creative partner, Matt Lucas, has maintained a strict public silence. Lucas, who shot to fame alongside Walliams in the BBC sketch show Little Britain, abruptly stopped posting his daily morning greetings to social media followers on the exact same day that the High Court refused Walliams’ legal bid to secure an injunction preventing the publication of the serious allegations. Lucas’s morning mantra routine had been a daily fixture on his accounts since February 2020, just prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing national lockdowns. The Daily Mail attempted to reach Lucas for comment through his publicist, but received no response.
Other longtime colleagues have similarly refrained from commenting. Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon, who sat alongside Walliams on the Britain’s Got Talent judging panel for a decade, have not issued public statements. The two judges were previously photographed alongside Walliams and an 18-year-old fan at a show recording—an individual who had been invited backstage by Walliams. Just two weeks after that encounter, the fan alleged that Walliams attempted to kiss her after getting her drunk while he drank water.
Internal documents and reports revealed that Britain’s Got Talent bosses had launched an investigation into Walliams’ behind-the-scenes conduct after learning he had routinely invited teenage girls into his dressing room. However, network probes ultimately concluded they could find "no smoking gun" that would warrant terminating his contract at the time. As the scandal broke, both Dixon and Holden were still noted to be following Walliams’ official Instagram account.
The scale of the "open secret" within comedy circles was further highlighted by comedian Kate Smurthwaite, who spoke to BBC Newsnight. She claimed that Walliams’ name was raised repeatedly within a private WhatsApp group for female comics as someone junior performers should avoid.
"Walliams is a name that came up over and over and over again," Smurthwaite said. "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."
Among former acquaintances in the entertainment sphere, veteran broadcaster Jonathan Ross stands out as one of the few to address the situation directly. His statement followed the resurfacing of a video clip from the British Comedy Awards in 2004, in which Ross told the audience: "The Comedy Awards is 15 years old — 15 years old! And like most 15-year-olds, it’s drunk, it’s unpredictable and it’s probably going home with David Walliams."
Ross, 65, released a statement expressing that he was "horrified" by the allegations. "There was a time in my life when I was on friendly terms with both men [Walliams and Brand], and during that period I was genuinely unaware of their conduct," Ross said. "My thoughts are with the many, many women who have bravely come forward."
Other industry figures have opted for more subtle acknowledgements rather than issuing formal statements. Comedian Alan Carr, while making no direct public comment, "liked" a social media post by fellow comedian Lucy Beaumont, who identified herself as a whistleblower and stated she had been doing everything in her power to support one of Walliams’ alleged victims. Carr, 50, added five clapping emojis to a post by Beaumont highlighting legal grey areas concerning age of consent laws and the emotional fallout experienced by young women involved with older, influential men.
In his comprehensive denial issued through representatives, Walliams maintained his innocence while reflecting on his past behaviour. "I am not a sexual predator," he stated.
"Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with… I realise I did not always take people’s feelings properly into account. That is something I regret," Walliams continued. "And whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did… I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law… I am devastated that some of the women I met ten to twenty years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me."
