On an evening marked by the weight of public accountability, Jonathan Ross stepped forward to say he was horrified by the allegations surrounding David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand, insisting that he had once been friendly with both men without knowing what they had done. The statement came in the wake of a long joint investigation by the Guardian and ITV News, which lays out accounts from women, some as young as 15, who say fame was used to prey on them. Walliams, for his part, denies predatory conduct and any breach of the law, while acknowledging that he had at times been though
Jonathan Ross says he was 'genuinely unaware' of David Walliams and Russell Brand's conduct
Multiple women allege Walliams preyed on them sexually, including teenagers as young as 15; Brand was convicted of one rape and three sexual assaults.
A tasteless joke I would not dream of making today
Mark
Why did Ross feel he had to speak at all?
Mimi
Because an old clip resurfaced. In 2004 he joked on stage that the Comedy Awards would probably be going home with David Walliams, and it looks very different now.
Mark
How does he explain it?
Mimi
He says the writing team gave him the joke and he read the punchline as a nod to Walliams dating younger women.
Luke
That's his account, though. The statement is the only explanation in the reporting, and nobody from the writing team is quoted.
Mark
And the investigation itself?
Mimi
Guardian and ITV News, three years of work, women describing alleged encounters, some when they were as young as 15.
Luke
Allegations, and Walliams denies them. He says he isn't a predator and hasn't broken the law. Nothing here says he's been charged.
Mark
What about Brand?
Mimi
He's a different situation. He was convicted last week of one rape and three sexual assaults and is in jail.
Luke
Worth keeping those apart. Being named in the same statement doesn't make the two cases equivalent.
Mark
And the photo with Gervais, Fallon and Cornish?
Mimi
The Mirror says there's no suggestion any of them knew of anything.
El Pulso
- A joint Guardian and ITV News investigation, three years in the making, has thrown David Walliams's reputation into open crisis.
- Multiple women allege he exploited fame to sexually abuse them, including teenagers, and some came forward with new claims during the reporting.
- Jonathan Ross is scrambling to distance himself, saying he was unaware of the conduct and that a 2004 joke about Walliams was written by a team and was tasteless.
- Walliams denies being a predator or breaking the law, calling his past behaviour thoughtless, while the shadow of Brand's jailing for rape and sexual assault hangs over the entire industry.
- The story is landing on a looming question: whether the claims will trigger formal action, and whether colleagues pictured alongside Walliams will face scrutiny.
On an evening marked by the weight of public accountability, Jonathan Ross stepped forward to say he was horrified by the allegations surrounding David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand, insisting that he had once been friendly with both men without knowing what they had done. The statement came in the wake of a long joint investigation by the Guardian and ITV News, which lays out accounts from women, some as young as 15, who say fame was used to prey on them. Walliams, for his part, denies predatory conduct and any breach of the law, while acknowledging that he had at times been thoughtless in past relationships. It is a moment in which a familiar pattern of celebrity silence and later reckoning is being examined once again, and in which the question of what those close to power knew, and when, remains unanswered.
Jonathan Ross, the ITV presenter, released a statement on Tuesday evening saying he was horrified by the allegations against David Walliams and by the crimes of Russell Brand. He said he had once been on friendly terms with both men and had genuinely been unaware of their conduct. His thoughts, he said, were with the many women who have come forward.
The statement followed a joint investigation by the Guardian and ITV News. It examines claims that Walliams used his fame for sexual purposes on multiple occasions, with some of the alleged victims as young as 15, and it features several women describing what they say happened to them. Some made new allegations during the reporting.
Walliams denies all wrongdoing. In a letter to the journalists, he said he had at times behaved thoughtlessly toward people he had casual relationships with and regretted not always considering their feelings. He insisted he never abused the power that fame gives, that he is not a sexual predator, and that he has not broken the law.
Ross also addressed a 2004 Comedy Awards joke in which he suggested the ceremony would probably go home with Walliams. He said he had been shocked to revisit it, and that the script team had written it, with the punchline understood as a comic exaggeration of Walliams dating younger women. He called it tasteless, and said that had he suspected any real events behind it, he would have refused to use it and distanced himself from Walliams.
Jonathan Ross, the 65-year-old ITV presenter, issued a statement on Tuesday evening saying he was horrified by the allegations surrounding David Walliams and by the crimes of Russell Brand. He said he had once been on friendly terms with both men and was, during that time, genuinely unaware of their conduct. His thoughts, he said, were with the many women who have come forward.
The statement followed the publication of a joint investigation by the Guardian and ITV News. Three years in the making, it examines claims about Walliams, who is 55. It reports allegations that he used his fame and position for sexual purposes on multiple occasions, with teenagers as young as 15, and it includes several women describing what they say happened to them. Some of the women made new allegations as part of the reporting.
Walliams denies all wrongdoing. In a letter to the journalists, he said that looking back, he realised he had at times behaved thoughtlessly toward people he had casual sexual relationships with, and that he had not always taken their feelings properly into account. He said he regretted that. A power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, he wrote, but abusing that power is something he never did. He added that he is not a sexual predator, has not broken the law, and is devastated that some women he met 10 to 20 years ago have expressed hurt or anger toward him.
Ross also addressed a clip from the 2004 Comedy Awards, in which he joked that the awards ceremony, then 15 years old, was drunk, unpredictable and probably going home with David Walliams. He said it is deeply shocking to revisit footage of that joke. He said the Comedy Awards script-writing team had submitted it to him, and that he took the punchline to refer to Walliams having publicly dated younger women, exaggerated for comic effect.
He called it a tasteless joke he would not dream of making about anyone today, though he said that was beside the point. Had he had any reason to suspect it referred to real events, he said, he would have refused to use it and would not have felt comfortable continuing a personal or professional relationship with Walliams. He concluded that he likes to think he would have acted on such knowledge.
Ross is also one of several celebrities pictured at a star-studded charity event where Walliams was seen with his arm around a teenager who now accuses him of grooming. The Mirror notes there is no suggestion that others in the photograph, including Ricky Gervais, Jane Fallon and Joe Cornish, knew of any alleged wrongdoing.
The Brand reference sits in a different legal place. Brand is in jail after being convicted last week of one rape and three sexual assaults. Walliams, by contrast, faces allegations that he denies, and the report mentions no conviction or charge. What to watch next is how others who worked with or appeared alongside Walliams respond, and whether the investigation's claims lead to further action.
Citas Notables
I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law.— David Walliams, in a letter to the journalists
I was genuinely unaware of their conduct.— Jonathan Ross
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