David Walliams dropped by publisher

[azuleja]

Over inappropriate behaviour towards women. Anyone surprised?

The consent thing gets easier the more victims there are. One is difficult to convict if there's no other evidence. Two is much easier to believe beyond reasonable doubt. Six unrelated victims with allegations from different points in time, all going to trial at the same time, changes things completely on the credibility of the witnesses and the reasonable doubt.

Someone I know was convicted recently with one victim, multiple incidents. He got 5 years. I was quite surprised as I'm not sure how it was proven. They had to wait over 18 months for a court date which must have been so stressful for the victim. As the judge said "you ruined your life because you couldn't control your urges".

I hope Russell Brand goes to prison.

Ma'am, this thread is going too dark

Hopefully. But his defence will just try and spin it saying his game goes against him as these accusers will be painted as being desperate for fame/compensation. I’m not holding my breath for a guilty verdict.

I agree with you to an extent but that defence doesn’t wash as well as it used to these days. I think it's unlikely he'll be able to shrug off all six women and however many charges it's got to now. I'm not sure if any of the charges relate to the 16 year old he allegedly used to pick up from school, but if they do he'll struggle to defend that in a climate that's hot on grooming.

I agree.

Decades have gone by where the defence has always been 'but they were groupies, what did they expect?' (In the case of a LOT of very famous male rock stars against young teens; some still alive today, some lauded as Legends) Not for much longer.

I'm also finally pleased to start seeing the back of men choking women to the point of death defended as 'she liked rough sex'

The more women who come forward, the better.

I’ve just been reading some more stuff about DW on Instagram and honestly once again I’m almost in tears of anger when I think of my big 5 publisher and how they treated me and many other debut authors with such contempt by barely marketing my books, not sending me to any festivals (other than the ones who reached out to me directly) and general disregard/low effort - and then look at how they (harper Collins) treated DW for years despite the fact it was clear he was unsafe and sleazy and offensive and his books much the same.

I wasn’t published by HC to be clear but it was another big name publisher. They’re all the same. And it’s not just the publishers it’s the booksellers, children’s charities and tv broadcasters who were platforming him. Shame on all of them!

They can shrug and say well his books sell but his books sold precisely because of the massive marketing effort that other authors didn’t get a sniff of. It’s not really that they were so remarkable.

https://metro.co.uk/2025/12/24/david-walliams-admitted-worried-bad-taste-jokes-exposed-25754924/amp/

It’s unbelievably frustrating for writers and it short changes readers too.

I know. Hopefully the end of weird male pornographers in Hollywood normalising barbaric acts just because they are sick and twisted, and incapable of having healthy sexual relationships with women. It should be called out for the screwed up twisted shit it really is. It was never normal.

They're not mutually exclusive! Gay people can by misogynist!

Cheaper than a goat and doesn't need fed - and it can't run away when it's tired of being abused.

Indeed. See most 'Drag'

@RainbowZebraWarrior and the term ‘Fag Hag’

OK, I certainly know that. I didn't imply they were mutually exclusive I should have said he's not gay he's simply/ or maybe just a misogynist.

My point was, he's not gay. I know him and he absolutely isn't. He is a misogynist though.

DW also allegedly picked up a teenager from school? Like Jared Leto in Australia? Like the singer of Red Hot Chilli Peppers?

Are they all just stunted forever? (And no, teen girls are not "more fertile".)

Russel Brand did, I don't think DW did?

Oh, that makes more sense.

@RavelsDancer JL and RB are interchangeable in my head, and they’re both creeps too

Maybe that title gave the publisher no choice but to rethink?

Do you mean Lost Prophets, not RHCP? Ian Watkins.

Anthony Kiedis has had some fairly well publicised relationships with teenage girls over the years.

It's all so tawdry isn't it?

And historically, all of the big names. Elvis, David Bowie etc.

Exactly, that’s the worst thing in this. Young readers deserve better!

ETA: Well all readers do deserve better than DW, but children are particularly vulnerable and their choices as to what their read are often more limited by the adults in their life .

When I was younger children (at least in my area) would go off to the library and choose their own books nowadays many seem to rely more on what their parent/teacher pick out.