I ought to be more shocked by the news that an A-list comedian has given Nazi salute on a BBC panel show, but as soon as I heard the name “David Walliams” I’m afraid I slightly glazed over.
Walliams, one-time sketch star, longtime bestselling children’s author and the unfortunate bearer of, now, 10 items under the subheading “Controversies” on his Wikipedia page, reportedly made the gestures this week while taping the Would I Lie to You? Christmas special (festive TV production begins especially far in advance). And though scolded by host Rob Brydon, he is said to have made the gesture again later in the programme.
Obviously, it’s unacceptable – whatever the intention or context, even if parody or satire, it is out of place on Would I Lie to You?. And obviously, the offensive scenes will be cut so we will be spared bearing witness (unlike the studio audience or the other panellists, who were reportedly visibly uncomfortable). But my main question is, what was Walliams doing on Would I Lie to You? in the first place?
Would I Lie to You? is one of the best programmes on TV. In 18 years, its perfect, simple, silly formula has never got boring. Miraculously, it’s appropriate for literally everyone, it’s the best vehicle celebrities have to show off their real personalities and loosen up, and it’s joyful. I really think prescribing a Bob Mortimer WILTY greatest hits YouTube compilation would make drastic improvements to the nation’s mental health, and I personally turn to it regularly. It is good, clean fun without being twee – which is a very hard line to tread.
Walliams, on the other hand, with a public persona that seems to grow ever more unpleasant despite his reign in the arena of children’s publishing, strayed far from good, clean fun a long time ago.
David Walliams and Matt Lucas on Little Britain (Photo: BBC)Whatever your views on the stereotyping and blackface on Little Britain or its particularly dicey follow-up Come Fly with Me, surely we can agree that someone who only three years ago left Britain’s Got Talent in disgrace after making vile derogatory comments about contestants – “I had a bit of a boner, but now it’s going, it’s now shrivelled up inside my body” is one just about printable example – shouldn’t be getting booked on a cosy BBC Christmas special.
Other questionable incidents include hosting the infamous Presidents Club dinner in 2018, at which hostesses were subject to groping and sexual harassment from the all-male attendees (he claimed he left straight after his set and was appalled by the reports), making lewd sexual comments about a then-17-year-old Harry Styles on Channel 4, dressing up as Kim Jong-un for Halloween, and an alarming number of occasions over the years in which he has exposed somebody else’s genitals – many of them teenagers, during a live show – against their will.
I could go on, but you are more than capable of visiting Wikipedia yourself and indeed using Google. It is all just quite creepy. I cannot understand who would, by now, be able to call his shtick funny, charming, boyish, or boundary-pushing. Nor can I understand why he’s still getting booked.
square TELEVISION Would I Lie to You? is the only good panel show left
Read More
People, and performers especially, make mistakes all the time, and I am not an advocate for immediate “cancelling” over a bad judgement call or a misstep.
But when somebody has spent so much of the past two decades behaving in a way that makes people – not just the Mary Whitehouses of the world – uncomfortable enough to complain, and repeats that sort of behaviour after getting reprimanded, it is clear they have made no demonstrable effort to listen and learn. When they keep getting high-profile gigs, they begin to believe that they can act with impunity.
The bad behaviour of people in the public eye doesn’t have to be major, scandalous or illegal for it to be wrong. When we award celebrities with high-profile jobs, or cast them on safe spaces like Would I Lie to You?, it is a tacit endorsement. It tells the audience watching: this is acceptable. How far does Walliams have to push limits until broadcasters decide it is not?
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( David Walliams’s Nazi salute has to be the last straw )
Also on site :
- ‘90s Country Star, 60, Shows off Slimmed Down Look at Intimate Show: ‘Beautiful'
- Star-Studded Tribute to Brian Wilson With Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, Michael McDonald, Elton John and More Re-Airing on CBS
- Jury begins deliberations in Mike Lindell defamation trial in Denver over election conspiracies