Resurfaced footage from a 2007 Little Britain stage performance in Australia shows David Walliams in a routine where he pulled down young men's trousers and made crude remarks, days after he was named in sexual misconduct allegations.
Routine featured lecherous TV presenter character
In the skit, the 55-year-old played a lecherous, disgraced children's TV presenter called Des Kaye. During the live show, he invited teenage boys onto the stage for a game of "Hide the Sausage," with the character plainly lusting after them.
Clips showed Walliams in character asking audience members their age, in one case saying "bingo" after a boy told him he was 16. He says to another boy who tells him he's 16, "you're a big boy for 16, aren't you?", adding, "That's what I'll tell the judge."
Character pounced on teens and exposed their bottoms
The routine involved the character dropping the pretence and pouncing on them, attempting to pull their trousers down, in some cases exposing their bare bottoms. Clips also show him kissing young men on the lips, telling one of them, "relax, it's your uncle Des!"
The character was a dark satire of disgraced children's presenters, and there have been no allegations of abuse by Walliams against young men.
Walliams named in abuse of power allegations
It comes after Walliams was named on Tuesday as the previously unnamed man who tried to get an injunction to prevent the reporting of allegations of "abuse of power and status" to contact young women and try to engage in "inappropriate and exploitative sexual activities".
Walliams, 55, brought legal action against Independent Television News (ITN) and Guardian News and Media (GNM), publisher of The Guardian, ahead of the two organisations reporting the allegations against the comedian and author.
Injunction bid dismissed and anonymity lifted
Walliams denied the claims and unsuccessfully sought an injunction to prevent these publications because of the risk he would take his own life, after two previous suicide attempts. The author was granted anonymity during the proceedings, which was lifted after his injunction bid was dismissed and GNM and ITN published their investigations on Tuesday.
The three-year joint investigation by ITV News and the Guardian reported a number of allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to 2003. 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.
In a statement to the Guardian and ITV News, the comedian 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…
"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."
