To understand the popularity of a character like the actor and children’s writer David Walliams (London, 54 years old), once again at the center of controversy, as well as to understand the popularity of a politician like Boris Johnson, we must always return to George Orwell, and his essay The Lion and the Unicornthe best psychological portrait to date of the English soul. “(The English) are not at all puritans. They are inveterate gamblers. They drink as much beer as their salary allows, they have a devotion to dirty jokes and use probably the dirtiest language in the world,” he wrote.
But even in the UK, everything has a limit.
The publisher HarperCollins has confirmed its decision to terminate its contract with Walliams, despite the juicy profits he obtained from his books. Although he rose to fame with the television series Little Britainalong with actor and comedian Matt Lucas, a fierce, irreverent, eschatological and politically incorrect critic of the most provincial and marginalized England, true commercial success came with his children’s books.
Based on an investigation that the newspaper The Telegraph has been exclusively attributed, according to which Walliams would have been involved in several incidents of “inappropriate behavior” with young female workers, the publisher has decided to break up with the writer. The label did not want to detail the exact reasons for such a drastic decision nor did it confirm that it was related to the complaints reported by the newspaper.
HarperCollins launched an internal investigation, which lasted almost a year, after receiving a complaint in 2023 from a young worker. According to The Telegraphat least one of the women who raised complaints with the publisher’s management ended up reaching an agreement and left the company with a high compensation. The sources cited by the newspaper assure that preventive measures were taken, such as ensuring that some of the employees had no direct relationship with Walliams, or that they were always accompanied by someone to work meetings with the author. In some cases, they were prohibited from going to their private homes.
A spokesman for the writer, who has denied any inappropriate behavior, has assured that “he had never been informed of any accusation against him”; that “he had not been formally consulted in any investigation nor had he been given the opportunity to respond” and that “he had decided to seek legal advice.”
The publishing house, which belongs to the conglomerate of media magnate Rupert Murdoch, has treated Walliams exquisitely throughout all these years, investing heavily in promoting his work. However, the decision last October to dismiss the executive director, Charlie Redmayne, and replace him on an interim basis with Kate Elton, has precipitated the idea of cutting ties with the author.
Walliams is one of the most successful children’s authors in the United Kingdom, with a total of 40 books published, which have sold 60 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into 55 languages. Its literary quality divides the opinions of critics. Some have already dubbed him the Roald Dahl of the 21st century. It helps to establish this comparison that Walliams used, for his first work, The Boy in the Dressthe illustrations of Quentin Blake, a Dahl collaborator.
The author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or James and him Giant Peach made the news again in early 2023, when publisher Puffin’s decision to change words and phrases in some of its books to make them more inclusive and politically correct sparked the ire of critics and admirers, conservative and progressive, of the most popular children’s writer of post-war Britain.
Walliams has had more problems with his behavior in real life than with the content of his stories. gangster granny, The big-headed monster o The worst teachers in the world They are full of scatological hooliganism, flooded with farts, vomiting or belching, which delight young readers. He searches for the same rebellious and malevolent tradition in his works, although the critics most detracting from his work point out a much cruder and simpler style. In any case, the author is part of the select group of writers, along with JK Rowling or Dan Brown, who in the United Kingdom alone have generated more than 100 million pounds sterling (about 120 million euros) with their work.
Other Walliams scandals
In 2022, the actor and writer confronted the ITV network and ended up being expelled as a judge from the game show. Britain´s Got Talent (in Spain it is also called Got Talent), after a recording was leaked in which he crudely insulted some of the participants. Although he admitted his insults and apologized, he ended up suing the production company for the leak and managed to be financially compensated through an out-of-court settlement.
In the middle of this year, again, he had another run-in with the BBC during the recording of a contest special. Would I Lie to You. Once again, a recording came to light in which Walliams performed the Nazi salute up to two times in a supposedly jocular manner, with his hand raised. “The use of such an offensive gesture is completely unacceptable and we apologize to the public attending during the recording for the harm caused,” the public corporation said in a statement. The producers edited and removed the greeting moment from the program.
Despite everything, Walliams was going to participate again this year in the special edition of Would I Lie to You Boxing Day, December 26, the day when Britons go shopping for sales and watching the Premier League match, which is traditionally played on that holiday. “We will not make changes to the festive programming, but Mr David Walliams will not participate in future projects,” said a BBC spokesperson just after the news of the writer’s alleged sexual harassment broke.
Although in the memory of many spectators characters and scenes of Little Britain, that today they would have difficult acceptance among the public, like the disabled person who is not really disabled and makes fun of everyone; the chubby, latex-clad homosexual who constantly boasts of being “the only gay in town”; or transvestites who insist on being treated like a “lady”. Walliams has subsequently attempted to give seriousness to his public image with a series of philanthropic acts and charitable foundations, which even led him to be decorated by Buckingham Palace with the Order of the British Empire.
Both he and his colleague, Matt Lucas, were forced to apologize for having played ethnic characters with their faces painted black. BBC, Netflix and BritBox immediately removed the series from their platforms.
Just a few weeks before the new scandal broke out around him, Walliams gathered students from 28 schools in Wolverhampton to celebrate with them all “the pleasure of reading.”