David Walliams wins payout from BGT producers after X-rated comments leaked

27 November 2023 , 17:59

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Britain’s Got Talent bosses have settled an explosive legal battle with David Walliams over the leaking of his X-rated remarks about contestants.

Walliams has received an apology from the show’s producer’s Fremantle, as well as seven-figure sum - believed to be around the £1million mark, or a year of his salary for the show. It is described as an “amicable” resolution and Fremantle say they “hope to have opportunities to work with him in the future.”

However some TV sources were highly skeptical Walliams would work on BGT again. One claimed: “Never say never in showbiz but it's going to take a lot of water under the bridge for that to happen. This has left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths."

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David Walliams left Britain's Got Talent last November (ITV)

It’s believed that judge Simon Cowell wanted to “wrap everything up before Christmas” in the hope that the start of auditions in January were not “overshadowed” by the row.

Walliams, 52, left the ITV show last November. He had wanted up to £10million for loss of earnings after his comments were made public. He was recorded referring to one contestant as a “c***” and saying of another: “She thinks you want to f*** her, but you don’t.”

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He said at the time he was unaware he may have been recorded and transcribed, and that Fremantle broke data protection rules. But Fremantle pointed to the fact that in April 2018, BGT announced all cameras "would now be rolling 24/7".

However they now accept that their security systems could have been more robust in preventing the leak from happening. Earlier reports of a “multi-million payment” were well wide of the mark, sources claim.

The decision to sue raised multiple eyebrows in the showbiz industry given the information Walliams put out into the public domain as part of the claim. It laid bare the extraordinary damage to David’s career in the wake of the leak.

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It included not only how the BBC pulled funding from a new Walliams project in the wake of his comments because of “negative publicity”, but also how other non-BBC adaptations of his books, published by Harper Collins, were also scrapped.

These include an adaptation of The Boy in the Dress in the West End and a Gangsta Granny musical. The documents also claimed that “many schools, libraries and shops have removed his books from their shelves” since the leaks, diminishing his book sales and revenue from royalties.

It stated that his March 2023 book Robodog sold 51 per cent less in its first seven weeks than his 2021 book Megamonster. And his latest book, The World’s Worst Monsters released in July 2023 has sold 47 per cent less in its first five weeks than his 2022 book The World's Worst Pets.

Walliams also described how his mental health was affected. A Fremantle Spokesperson said: We are pleased that we have achieved an amicable resolution of this dispute with David.

“We are sincerely sorry that his private conversations when a judge on Britain’s Got Talent were published, and the great distress this caused David. We have reviewed our production practices on the show to ensure they fully respect the expectations of our talent whilst satisfying the requirements of the show.

“We have enjoyed a great relationship with David over many years. We thank David for being an important part of the Britain’s Got Talent family and the enduring success of the show and hope to have opportunities to work with him in the future.”