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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to ask, why does David Walliams act so camp?

284 replies

ssd · 31/05/2015 20:19

is it part of his image or something?

I just dont get it.

OP posts:
loveareadingthanks · 01/06/2015 10:49

Am I the only one who doesn't see 'camp' as the same thing as 'effeminate'.

Well, for one thing we could start on the whole what is masculine behaviour, what is feminine behaviour, gender stereotypes, gender/sex, nature/nurture stuff. Personally I'm anti-gender (not sex) but I can't be bothered to argue all that again, so let's take it that there is such a thing as feminine and masculine behaviour.

Camp is neither. Camp is not stereotypically female. To me, it's a dramatic over-the top theatricalism (not saying it's good or bad), a way of presenting a persona, a type of personality whether inate or assumed, that is not being 'feminine' as such.

harryhausen · 01/06/2015 10:53

Basically in his book, he has always been 'camp' and out of the ordinary. He was teased in school for being 'camp'. He had only one friend. He immersed himself in comedy of the early 80's and discovered that if he heightened his 'campness' like an act it got him noticed and made people laugh.

He briefly thought he might be gay as a teenager but then went to drama college in Bristol and met an actress (can't remember her name now - she was in Spaced) fell in love and went our with her for years. He has had many relationships with females since (including Caroline Aherne).

I've met him a fair few times through my work (children's book industry). So yes, camp. Not gay (yet). He just is who he is. He has an 'act'. Why is that such an issue for people?

donemekmelarf · 01/06/2015 11:03

would shag Walliams senseless. He is fit

I think he looks strange. Fit is not a word I would use to describe Walliams.

donemekmelarf · 01/06/2015 11:08

as said already, thats what I dont like, the false leeriness, like we should find it appealing and funny, it just comes across as crass and boring

You can tell that Simon Cowell is fed up with all his false leering. The joke's wearing thin.

iHAVEtogetoutofhere · 01/06/2015 11:08

I don't care if he is gay or straight or bisexual or camp or not camp.

I do think he is creepy, his behaviour around other peoples bodies lacks boundaries and I also think he is 'dead eyed and watchful' behind the 'jolly man' act.

I still wonder what dirt he has on Cowell, though...

RebootYourEngine · 01/06/2015 11:11

Gay men can play straight men in tv shows/films eg. The actor in How i met your mother, he is gay and plays a straight man.

I dont care if anyone is gay/straight/bisexual but i hate campness. It is quite tiring.

DW comes across as creepy.

Gilrack · 01/06/2015 11:29

Loads of other posters have summed up my visceral feeling of mistrust about him. It even shone shone through in his autobiography - I stopped trying to understand him better when I realised that just reading it was giving me the willies.

I'm camp, apparently. I think I've successfully toned that down several notches, but am still liable to climb on the bar with HoneyDragon to perform an impromptu comedy rendition of "Summer Nights" Wink

Royalsighness · 01/06/2015 11:37

I find it really attractive in him, it's almost like he's so alpha that he doesn't need to be OTT and masculine, he looks after himself, dresses amazing and I just find him very sexy

riverboat1 · 01/06/2015 11:38

I find him quite refreshing, in so far as he doesn't fit into a gay/straight/macho/camp box. And I think he's funny.

SylvaniansKeepGettingHoovered · 01/06/2015 12:10

Eww I don't know how anyone can find him sexy. Even his surname is irritating. I reckon he folds his clothes neatly before getting in to bed, and keeps his socks on.

If I had to describe him I'd say untrustworthy, deceitful, creepy, two-faced, funny, clever and sneaky. Poor bloke, I've never met him and he could be lovely, but it's just the impression I get from the look on his face, which is disgusting of me I know. I never judge people by how they look, but in his case there's something sinister about his eyes and thin mouth. I would never say this in real life as I think I'm a bitch for saying it.

And his children's books are excellent, I feel my DDs are very lucky to have him around as an author, he's like a Roald Dahl. He's quite childish in behaviour isn't he, so he really 'speaks' to children and seems to understand what kids want.

I think he camps it up for attention, which seems to work as so far he's got 8 pages of discussion on mumsnet about it.

MerynFuckingTrant · 01/06/2015 12:27

YABU. Campness has fuck all to do with sexuality. It's just part of someones personality. I have had relationships with two men who are camp. One is definitely not gay, not too sure about the other one. I also know gay people who are not camp.
I'm attracted to both men and women but you can't tell by looking at me.
I don't really understand why it matters anyway. Why do people have to "come out"? Unless you're interested in shagging David Walliams then why does it matter what his sexuality is?

Fudgeface123 · 01/06/2015 12:44

I'd like to see the proof that Bruce Willis is gay

Koalafications · 01/06/2015 13:01

He briefly thought he might be gay as a teenager but then went to drama college in Bristol and met an actress (can't remember her name now - she was in Spaced) fell in love and went our with her for years.

Jessica Hynes?

Pony74 · 01/06/2015 13:02

No way is Bruce Willis gay. Tom Cruise is though.

SaulGood · 01/06/2015 14:33

Being camp doesn't mean being leery either.

OP you asked why he was camp, referring to it as "annoying camp shit". Turns out that you don't like people leering according to a later post. That's not the same thing at all.

Pico2 · 01/06/2015 19:48

No way is Bruce Willis gay. Tom Cruise is though.

Perhaps we could stop speculating about people's sexuality. Why would you care about the sexuality of peor you don't know?

SuperFlyHigh · 01/06/2015 19:52

A cousin of my SIL's (actress) dated him about 3 years ago briefly (don't think they slept together) and he treated her appallingly, he flew her out to California to a house he was renting I think… he left her by herself a lot whilst he went out, she snooped (yes bad move) and apparently found out evidence of other women he was seeing at the time… I think after that she just came home and blanked him.

She was about 23 at the time I think and very very pretty (I've never asked her about this!) and he made a reference to someone in an interview I read who could've been this cousin….

Anyway his name is a bit muck now in SIL's family's house!

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 01/06/2015 19:55

What with DW being so obviously camp and such an attention seeking sort who likes to tease us with the 'is he/isn't he' thing, why on earth does anyone think that in this day and age someone like him would need a beard? What would he have to gain by going to all that effort and pretence, and indeed what would he have to lose by not?

He is a camp straight man. or possibly he's bi.

Who gives a stuff?

ApplePaltrow · 01/06/2015 23:23

He's creepy and horrible. He's the kind of man I wouldn't trust to pour me a drink.

And just because he's bi doesn't make him a saint.

LittleBearPad · 02/06/2015 00:03

Haven't seen BGT but he cannot be as bad a Bruno toniolli (so?) on Strictly.

harryhausen · 02/06/2015 07:29

Koala, no not Jessica Hynes. It was her friend. The character was called 'Twist'. She's been in other stuff too but is one of those people you can never rememberSmile

Sallystyle · 02/06/2015 07:47

I am so stupid! I didn't realise it was him who wrote those books. My daughter has them all as well but I never made the connection Blush

RebootYourEngine · 02/06/2015 08:59

SuperFlyHigh - are u sure u arent getting david walliams mixed up with someone else because he got married in 2010 to lara stone and they only separated this year.

Doesnt your SILs cousin read the newspapers/magazines?

SuperFlyHigh · 02/06/2015 13:01

This was about 5-6 years ago I think. She met him whilst waitressing at the ivy or river cafe.

SuperFlyHigh · 02/06/2015 13:02

I'm not great with dates!