David Walliams - today’s least surprising news

[Tristan]

This has been on the cards for ages. Good to see it finally go public.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cev8p7d0gmgo

[jimbob]

Yup

[Tessa K]

I read that his book sales have been falling for a while, down by 60%. So the publishing company that has been protecting him has much less incentive to do so. Or maybe attention reached a critical mass they couldn't deny.

I don't find it helpful when people say they're not surprised about someone creepy or sleazy. Some people are just that and hindsight doesn't make you intuitive.

[Tristan]

Some people are just that and hindsight doesn't make you intuitive.

It’s not intuition. This stuff has been known about for ages.

[Tessa K]

Some people are just that and hindsight doesn't make you intuitive.

It’s not intuition. This stuff has been known about for ages.

But not by the general public???

[Fishnut]

I've been seeing online rumours about him for years. Similar to Russell Brand, it seemed like an open secret but he was too profitable for anyone to do anything. For some reason his star is finally waning and, like Brand, the wolves who once circled to protect him are at last turning against him.

[Stephanie]

Some people are just that and hindsight doesn't make you intuitive.

It’s not intuition. This stuff has been known about for ages.

But not by the general public???

There was the stuff at the president's club, allegations on twitter, those comments he made about contestants on Britain's got talent - article here that also mentioned his interest in much younger women. I think there was already a general sense that he was sleazy

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity- ... e-28456967

[IvanV]

Some hints have been around for a long time. When James Corden was the new best thing, so that's probably over 20 years ago, he gave an interview saying something along the lines of how great it was making it into the in-crowd, as he got to enjoy going out to strip clubs with David Walliams. I instantly decided that both James Corden and David Walliams were arses, long before it was a common opinion. In the case of Walliams, marrying a model didn't show great judgment either.

But, how much should we cancel our misbehaving artists? Some places you can't perform Wagner, because it will be said he was an antisemitic figurehead of Nazism. Wagner has the partial excuse that he wasn't even alive at the time of Nazism. Though he was a keystone of the earlier stages of the antisemitic Germanic superiority culture that morphed into Nazism. Carl Orff gets rather less of a mention for these things, though he wrote Carmina Burana in 1937 at the height of Nazism, and his music was popular with the people and the regime. He was never a party member. Maybe, like Shostakovich, he was just doing what you need to survive as a composer in a totalitarian regime.

Walliams is being cancelled by publishers, etc. But the BBC has said it will continue to show the popular dramatisations of his children's books. I suppose they cost a lot of money to make. So apparently he is only partly cancelled at the moment.

[Tessa K]

Walliams is being cancelled by publishers, etc. But the BBC has said it will continue to show the popular dramatisations of his children's books. I suppose they cost a lot of money to make. So apparently he is only partly cancelled at the moment.

Some broadcasters need a return on their outlay, like Netflix showing Sandman post-revelations. Or some showing old Kevin Spacey films. People can choose whether to watch or not.

In some cases there will be repeat fees so the cancelled person will benefit, in other cases there's a buy a out and they don't.

I noticed Walliams' latest book is still on the shelves in Sainsbury's today, it may have been bought in before the news broke.

It's a tough conversation to have with kids about why you won't be buying the bpoks any more.

[JQH]

I hadn't heard about any of this. What pissed me off about him (and Matt Lucas) was the punching down nature of some of their humour particularly thinking of the ones featuring a wheelchair user who's faking it. Hilarious - unless you remember claimants who really are disabled and have to deal with a DWP default assumption that they are fakes.

[Boustrophedon]

In the case of Walliams, marrying a model didn't show great judgment either.

There nothing inherently wrong with marrying a model is there? Or am I missing a nuance?

[Boustrophedon]

Flibble, double post.

[Tessa K]

In the case of Walliams, marrying a model didn't show great judgment either.

There nothing inherently wrong with marrying a model is there? Or am I missing a nuance?

I agree.

[bob sterman]

In the case of Walliams, marrying a model didn't show great judgment either.

There nothing inherently wrong with marrying a model is there? Or am I missing a nuance?

I agree.

It's not marrying the model Lara Stone in 2009 that showed poor judgment - but rather dating a different model earlier that year who was just 18 when Walliams was 37 at the time.

[IvanV]

There nothing inherently wrong with marrying a model is there? Or am I missing a nuance?

I agree.

It's not marrying the model Lara Stone in 2009 that showed poor judgment - but rather dating a different model earlier that year who was just 18 when Walliams was 37 at the time.

Of course models have the same desire to marry as everyone else. But in the context of Walliams liking to go to strip clubs, his record of dating models, including young ones, there is an implication that what he found in her is not a good reason for getting married. This which tends not to lead to good, stable marriages.

[shpalman]

I wasn't still living in England when Little Britain seemed to blow up as the new Fast Show or whatever, but when I did see some episodes of it, I decided it was pretty terrible.

Compared to models wanting to date or marry him, I'm much more concerned about the 'Hide a Sausage' sketch here (plus everything else of course) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wal ... blic_image

[jimbob]

I hadn't heard about any of this. What pissed me off about him (and Matt Lucas) was the punching down nature of some of their humour particularly thinking of the ones featuring a wheelchair user who's faking it. Hilarious - unless you remember claimants who really are disabled and have to deal with a DWP default assumption that they are fakes.

Exactly. It was part of the unpleasant toxicity on TV that fed into today's political climate. See also Jeremy Clarkson's "funny" rants about various groups of people.

[noggins]

Well I'm surprised by the statistically normal nature of the allegations.

[bob sterman]

Cases like this - tend to reinforce the idea that on screen persona is a reliable guide to off screen behaviour - e.g. comedians and presenters who appear to be obnoxious and sleazy on screen, will likely be the same (or worse) in real life.

It's probably a reasonable assumption - but it's not an infallible rule. I know of some very wholesome, right-on comedians who are really unpleasant off-stage. While notoriously Jimmy Carr is apparently secretly nice - and very supportive of female comedians.

[Tristan]

I know of some very wholesome, right-on comedians who are really unpleasant off-stage.

Speaking of which did you see that Robin Ince has left the Infinite Monkey Cage?

[Tessa K]

I know of some very wholesome, right-on comedians who are really unpleasant off-stage.

Speaking of which did you see that Robin Ince has left the Infinite Monkey Cage?

Is he problematic? I've met him quite a few times.

[Tristan]

I know of some very wholesome, right-on comedians who are really unpleasant off-stage.

Speaking of which did you see that Robin Ince has left the Infinite Monkey Cage?

Is he problematic? I've met him quite a few times.

He is by accounts a bully towards coworkers and a (communal) narcissist. As well as from people who know him the former comes across in his book and the latter in his social media presence.

[Fishnut]

I know of some very wholesome, right-on comedians who are really unpleasant off-stage.

Speaking of which did you see that Robin Ince has left the Infinite Monkey Cage?

Is he problematic? I've met him quite a few times.

He left because the BBC were unhappy with his vocal support of trans rights. Here's his statement on Bluesky and here's a short piece by him in The Big Issue.

I explain to the audience that I felt I had to resign as a freelance BBC presenter as the executives frequently found issue with my beliefs outside the BBC, and I know they got a lot of bother if I ever said anything remotely supportive of the trans community or trans allies. I could not balance remaining and agreeing to the restrictions.

[Tessa K]

Speaking of which did you see that Robin Ince has left the Infinite Monkey Cage?

Is he problematic? I've met him quite a few times.

He left because the BBC were unhappy with his vocal support of trans rights. Here's his statement on Bluesky and here's a short piece by him in The Big Issue.

I explain to the audience that I felt I had to resign as a freelance BBC presenter as the executives frequently found issue with my beliefs outside the BBC, and I know they got a lot of bother if I ever said anything remotely supportive of the trans community or trans allies. I could not balance remaining and agreeing to the restrictions.

That's what I heard too

[Tristan]

Yes, that is why he SAYS he resigned.