A resurfaced 2009 interview shows David Walliams describing convicted rapist Russell Brand as a "sex messiah," a remark the journalist present now calls "sinister" and "awkward."
Brand was jailed for 10 years and six months last week after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault. Since then, several comedians have said his behaviour was an "open secret" in showbiz.
Interview Details Resurface
Times journalist Robert Crampton, who spoke to Walliams in 2009, recalled the conversation in a video shared by the paper this week. In the interview, Walliams said of Brand: "He is a different kettle of fish. Going for nights out with him, girls swarming towards him, it's like he's some sort of sex messiah."
Walliams also described an incident at a nightclub: "I was in a nightclub with him and he was snogging one girl and he just stopped and started snogging another and I was like, 'What about [the first girl's] feelings?'"
Crampton said: "We talked about his relationship with women, and his friend Russell Brand. Walliams described Brand as a 'sex messiah'... by the standards of the time, that remark counts as solicitous. But the standards were, as we can all see now, shockingly low."
Separate Allegations Against Walliams
ITV and the Guardian released a documentary on Walliams this week, outlining allegations that he preyed on girls as young as 15. Walliams has denied all of the allegations made against him.
The Metropolitan Police have confirmed they have launched a criminal investigation into Walliams over alleged serious sexual offences, separate to the ones in the ITV and Guardian investigation. The new allegations are understood to have come from several people, as reported by The Guardian.
Following the release of the investigation, Walliams said: "Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with. I realise I did not always take people's feelings properly into account. That is something I regret. And whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did."
He added: "I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me."
