A 2009 television clip has resurfaced showing David Walliams joking that a female friend described him as "a vile sexual predator," as the comedian faces sexual misconduct allegations from The Guardian and ITN.
During an appearance on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, host Alan Carr addressed Walliams' romantic status, revealing the pair had recently attended a "posh do" together with actress and pop star Natalie Imbruglia.
Walliams' Chatty Man exchange
Carr suggested: "Why don't you marry her and make an honest woman of her?" adding, "She is adorable. You make such a lovely couple."
Walliams replied: "Well, it's very kind of you to say that, but she isn't really into marrying me." He continued: "The words that she used, I think the phrase she used is she said: 'You're a vile sexual predator.' ...Something like that," he said, smiling as the audience laughed.
He quickly became serious and said: "No, I know we're just really good friends. It's really important to have some good female friends." He concluded: "But she's lovely. I mean, I'd marry her if she wanted to, but she doesn't want to."
Denial of misconduct allegations
The clip resurfaced after Walliams lost his bid for an injunction to prevent the publication of allegations, including sexual misconduct, against him. On Monday, November 9, the comedian and TV personality missed a deadline to take his case to the Court of Appeal.
The Little Britain star and former Britain's Got Talent judge had brought legal action against Independent Television News (ITN), which produces news programmes for ITV, Channel 4, Good Morning Britain and Channel 5, and Guardian News and Media (GNM), publisher of The Guardian.
The three-year joint investigation by ITV News and the Guardian revealed a number of allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to 2003. They include one woman who described her encounter with Walliams when she was aged 15 as "sexual assault." Multiple other women have accused the TV personality of "grooming" them when they were teenagers, according to the investigation.
One woman alleged Walliams began contacting her when she was 15 after meeting her at a Little Britain fan event, before starting a sexual relationship with her at the age of 17, ITV News reported.
Walliams' statement and prior comments
In a statement to the Guardian and ITV News, 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."
He added: "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… I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law… I am devastated that some of the women I met ten to twenty years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me."
Walliams had earlier confessed several times that his feelings for Imbruglia were one-sided. They first met in 2009, and he said he quickly developed a "huge crush" on her. However, he began dating model Lara Stone that same year, whom he married in 2010 with Imbruglia in attendance.
A year before his nuptials in 2009, Imbruglia spoke to Express.co.uk about Walliams during a red carpet appearance. "I don't know if he's going to settle down. I give up," she said. "I'd never be the one to win him over. I counsel him on his relationship woes. I'm just his friend. I can't possibly divulge what he tells me."
