In the quiet aftermath of two long-running reckonings in British comedy, Jonathan Ross has stepped forward to say that he did not know what lay behind the public faces of David Walliams and Russell Brand. Walliams, who denies every allegation made against him, now stands named in a joint investigation that accuses him of grooming teenage girls, while Brand has already been jailed for rape and sexual assault. Ross's account asks a familiar question of an industry that once laughed together: what was visible in the room, and what was hidden from everyone but the people harmed.
Jonathan Ross says he was 'horrified' by allegations against David Walliams and Russell Brand
Multiple women have made sexual misconduct allegations against David Walliams, including claims of grooming girls as young as 15; Russell Brand was jailed for rape and sexual assault.
A tasteless joke he says he would not dream of making today
Mark
Why is Ross making a statement at all? He isn't accused of anything.
Mimi
Two things put him in the frame. A 2004 awards clip of him joking about Walliams and a 15-year-old resurfaced, and he appears in a photo in the ITV documentary, next to Walliams at an event one of the accusers attended.
Mark
And the Brand link?
Mimi
Longer and more public. They shared TV shows, and Ross was on Brand's Radio 2 show in 2008 during Sachsgate. Brand was jailed on Monday for 10 and a half years.
Luke
Let's be careful about what's established. Brand's conviction is a court outcome. Walliams' allegations are not, and he denies them all.
Mimi
Right. The Walliams material is allegations from a Guardian and ITV News investigation, after he failed to get an injunction to stop publication.
Mark
What does Ross say about the joke?
Mimi
That the Comedy Awards script team gave it to him, that he read the punchline as a jab at Walliams dating younger women, and that he wouldn't make it today.
Luke
That's his account. We have no independent confirmation of how the joke was written or what he understood, and his claim that he was unaware is also his own statement.
Mark
Does the photo imply anything?
Luke
Not by itself. It shows he was at an event with Walliams and one of the women. The reporting here doesn't say more than that.
Mimi
He does say he would have cut ties had he suspected, and that he likes to think he'd have acted. That's a statement of intent, not a fact about the past.
Der Puls
- A 2004 Comedy Awards joke about Walliams and a 15-year-old has resurfaced, dragging Ross back into a scandal he never sought.
- Walliams, named by The Guardian and ITV News, faces grooming allegations he fiercely denies after failing to block publication.
- Ross insists he was genuinely unaware of both men's conduct and calls himself horrified, while blaming a script submission for the offensive line.
- Scrutiny now turns to whether colleagues who worked alongside Walliams and Brand will be asked what they saw at the time.
In the quiet aftermath of two long-running reckonings in British comedy, Jonathan Ross has stepped forward to say that he did not know what lay behind the public faces of David Walliams and Russell Brand. Walliams, who denies every allegation made against him, now stands named in a joint investigation that accuses him of grooming teenage girls, while Brand has already been jailed for rape and sexual assault. Ross's account asks a familiar question of an industry that once laughed together: what was visible in the room, and what was hidden from everyone but the people harmed.
Jonathan Ross has responded to the fallout from two of the biggest scandals in British entertainment, telling the Press Association that he was "horrified" by the allegations against David Walliams and by the crimes of Russell Brand. He says he was "genuinely unaware" of the conduct of either man during the years they were friendly.
The statement followed the resurfacing of footage from the British Comedy Awards in 2004, in which Ross joked about Walliams going home with a 15-year-old. Walliams was named this week as the subject of a joint Guardian and ITV News investigation, which accuses him of sexual misconduct including grooming teenage girls. He denies all of it. Ross also appears in a photograph used in the accompanying ITV documentary, taken at an event attended by one of the women who later spoke out.
Brand, jailed on Monday for ten and a half years for rape and sexual assault, had a longer connection to Ross, including the 2008 Sachsgate scandal on BBC Radio 2. Ross said he remembered the 2004 line as a clumsy exaggeration of Walliams's public dating and that he would not make such a joke today. Had he suspected it referred to real events, he says, he would have refused it and distanced himself from Walliams. The allegations against Walliams remain unproven, and attention now turns to what others who worked with both men may have seen.
Jonathan Ross has responded to the fallout from two of the biggest scandals in British entertainment, issuing a statement to the Press Association in which he said he was "horrified" by the allegations about David Walliams and by the crimes of Russell Brand. He said he had been "genuinely unaware" of the conduct of either man.
The statement came after footage resurfaced of Ross at the British Comedy Awards in 2004, joking about Walliams going home with a 15-year-old. Ross is 65. Walliams is 55.
Walliams was named on Tuesday as the subject of a joint investigation by The Guardian and ITV News. He had tried and failed to obtain an injunction to stop the allegations being published. The best-selling author and former Britain's Got Talent judge stands accused of sexual misconduct, including grooming teenage girls as young as 15 and abusing his position to pursue women. Walliams denies all of the allegations against him.
Ross has a link to the investigation beyond the old joke. He appears in a photograph used in the accompanying ITV documentary, David Walliams: Power and Silence. The picture shows him alongside Walliams at an event that was also attended by one of the women who later made allegations about Walliams' conduct.
The Brand connection is longer-standing. Brand was jailed on Monday for 10 and a half years for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others. Ross appeared with him on several television shows, and joined him on his BBC Radio 2 show in 2008, when the two became embroiled in the scandal known as "Sachsgate". They left a voicemail for the actor Andrew Sachs, in which they made explicit comments about a relationship Brand had had with Sachs' granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.
In his statement, Ross said there was a time when he was on friendly terms with both men, and that during that period he knew nothing of their conduct. He added that his thoughts were with the many women who have bravely come forward.
On the 2004 joke, he acknowledged how deeply shocking it is to revisit the footage. He said the line was submitted to him by the Comedy Awards script writing team, and that he took the punchline as a reference to Walliams having publicly dated younger women, exaggerated for comic effect. He called it a tasteless joke he would not dream of making today about anyone, though he said that was beside the point.
Ross went on to say that had he had any reason to suspect the joke referred to actual events, he would have refused to use it and would not have felt comfortable continuing a personal or professional relationship with Walliams. He said he liked to think he would have acted on that knowledge.
The allegations against Walliams remain just that, and he disputes them. What to watch is whether others who worked alongside the two men face similar questions about what they saw or said at the time.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
I am as horrified by the revelations about David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand as the rest of the nation.— Jonathan Ross, statement to the Press Association
Had I had any reason to suspect that it might be referring to actual events, I would not only have refused to use it, but I would not have felt comfortable continuing a personal or professional relationship with him.— Jonathan Ross
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