Not many people can say that they’ve found success in as many fields as has David Walliams. From his early career as a comedian in “Little Britain”, to becoming a best-selling children’s book author, and being an acclaimed judge in “Britain’s Got Talent”, “BGT” for a decade, there’s no doubt that David has become an iconic name in the UK’s TV industry.
Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that David’s career has been without setbacks. Besides the criticism he’s received over the years for his comedy sketches, David was under fire when his comments about some “Britain’s Got Talent” contestants were leaked to the media.
Though the latter incident marked the end of his career as a talent show judge, his followers from that time now wonder what David has been doing since then, and whether there’s any chance of him returning to the show.
So what’s David Walliams been doing since leaving the competition show? Keep with us find out!
What’s He Doing Now?
Even if David Walliams’ exit from “Britain’s Got Talent” in 2022 wasn’t on the best terms possible given the controversy surrounding it, his most loyal fans have been more than pleased to see him moving forward with other projects. Firstly, the most prolific part of David’s career is as a children’s book writer, which has seen him publish over 40 of them since the early 2000s, the most recent being “The Blunders”, “Astrochimp” and “Super Sleuth”.
One of David’s most successful books is “Gangsta Granny”, which birthed a whole successful series, more recently including the 2022 TV film adaption of the spin-off book “Gangsta Granny Strikes Again!”. Another milestone for David has been seeing his “Awful Auntie” book come alive in a theater play in 2024.
Though David hasn’t been in any long-lasting TV projects in recent years, it’s worth noting that he voiced a character in the TV film “Red Riding Hood: After Ever After”, which came out just a month after his exit from “Britain’s Got Talent” in late 2022. He also had a minor role in the comedy film “My Happy Ending”, and a year later took part in the charity show “Comic Relief: Funny for Money”.
To keep up with David Walliams’ whereabouts, these days the comedian and writer is very active on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
Why Was He Sacked From “Britain’s Got Talent”?
The controversy surrounding David Walliams’ exit from “Britain’s Got Talent” is a mix of rudeness and carelessness. Everything happened in November 2022, when The Guardian posted recordings of David’s comments while assessing some show’s auditioners.
The words David secretly directed at the potential contestants weren’t kind at all, with him making sexually explicit remarks about a woman auditioner, and also describing an elderly man rudely. According to the reports, neither of these remarks was known by the contestants at the time, but the reason these recordings were taken was that the show often uses these to make the show more candid, by showcasing the judges’ opinions as they sit at their shared table in the auditorium.
The Guardian analyzed only three of the episodes’ recordings taken in 2020, eventually revealing them two years later. The other judges were said to be unaware of David’s derogatory remarks towards the contestants,; the show’s network BBC stated that they didn’t condone the comedian’s behavior.
On his part, David apologized for his behavior, and admitted that the conversations were private and not meant to be published. In the end, David wasn’t officially fired as he resigned from the show, but there’s no denying that the controversy most likely put a lot of pressure on him,to prompt that decision.
“Little Britain”s Controversies.
David Walliams might have become under fire for his derogatory “Britain’s Got Talent” comments, but that wasn’t his first rodeo at creating controversy. The earliest eyebrow-raising incident he was involved in was during “Little Britain”’s live shows, in which he invited male audience volunteers to come up on stage and prompt them, sometimes forcefully, to undress.
The controversy went beyond just the sexual factor of the comedy sketch, as he portrayed a homosexual character named Des Kaye. On top of that, on one occasion, an audience volunteer was revealed to be 16 years old, but that didn’t stop David’s character from trying to take off his pants and grind against him. Similar incidents happened throughout the run of the show, but the controversy didn’t hit until the clips from the 2007 Australian leg of the live show’s documentary “Little Britain Down Under” surfaced on social media in 2020, attracting accusations of predatory and homophobic behavior from internet users.
Another big controversy faced by “Little Britain” had to do with the TV show, which ran from 2003 to 2006 on BBC, and had David and his co-host Matt Lucas portraying a variety of characters.
The show came under fire in 2020, when Netflix and iPlayer pulled the show off their platforms due to David and Matt’s usage of blackface and racial stereotypes. However, both comedians came forward to apologize.
Other Controversies & Career Future
Besides the blackface scandal, David Walliams has also been accused of using racial stereotypes in his writing. The biggest source of controversy is his 2016 book “Brian Wong Who Was Never Wrong”, which was said to portray ‘harmful stereotypes’ about minorities. The book was pulled from bookstores in 2021, following viral complaints on social media.
On the personal side, David has also been criticized for dating Lauren Budd, with whom he had a 19-year age gap when the model was 18-years-old back in 2007. A similar situation happened in 2018, when he was rumored to date Chloe Ayling after the model’s kidnapping made it to international headlines amid publicity stunt accusations, because of the 27-year age gap between the pair.
That said, the adaption of David’s writing to movies and theater plays, on top of remaining an important personality in the British entertainment industry, demonstrates that not even his “Britain’s Got Talent” fiasco and other professional and personal controversies have been enough to deter his career’s success.
