BBCTV presenter Jonathan Ross has said he is “horrified” by allegations of sexual misconduct against David Walliams and the rape conviction of Russell Brand.
In a statement, Ross said he was once “on friendly terms with both men”, but that at the time he was “genuinely unaware of their conduct”.
ITV News and the Guardian on Tuesday published reports alleging that Walliams has been accused of sexual misconduct by several women. Walliams denies all the allegations against him. Brand was sentenced to 10 years in jail for rape on Monday.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said that the allegations against Walliams were the “latest in a long line of reported abuses of power” in the media.
He added: “My thoughts are with the many, many women who have bravely come forward.”
Jonathan Ross is one of the country’s best-known TV presenters, having regularly hosted celebrities on his Jonathan Ross Show, including David Walliams and Russell Brand.
In the ITV documentary revealing the allegations, Ross is pictured at an event also attended by a woman who later made accusations about the conduct of Walliams.
In his statement, Ross also addressed a joke he made at a comedy awards show in 2004, in which the punchline suggested Walliams would be “going home” with a 15-year-old.
Ross acknowledged the controversial quip and described it as “tasteless”.
He added: “This joke was submitted to me by the Comedy Awards script writing team and I believed that the punchline was a reference to the fact he had publicly dated younger women, exaggerated for comic effect.
“Had I had any reason to suspect that it might be referring to actual events, I would not only have refused to use it, but I would not have felt comfortable continuing a personal or professional relationship with him.
“I also like to think that I would have acted upon that knowledge.”
Ross and Brand were also widely criticised for leaving lewd voicemails for Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs, the grandfather of Georgina Baillie with whom Brand was in a consensual relationship in the mid-2000s, during a BBC Radio 2 broadcast.
Brand was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years imprisonment for one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, and the Metropolitan Police has confirmed several people have approached them about the disgraced star since his conviction.
- If you are affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.
Walliams rose to fame alongside Matt Lucas in the early 2000s with BBC sketch comedy Little Britain, served as a judge on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, and launched a best-selling series of children’s books.
Several women have spoken to the Guardian and ITV News as part of a joint three-year investigation by the media companies, accusing Walliams of “grooming” them when they were teenagers. The investigation was published after Walliams lost a legal bid to stop the claims against him being made public.
One of the women now characterises her alleged encounter with Walliams at 15-years- old as a “sexual assault”.
Walliams denies the allegations, and in a statement to journalist shared by the Guardian said he was “not a sexual predator” and had not “broken the law”.
He acknowledged that “at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with” and said he regretted not always taking “people’s feelings properly into account”.
The Metropolitan Police have since contacted the Guardian and ITV News “to ensure that any potential victims” are “made aware of how they could report any criminal allegations to police”.
Comedian Lucy Beaumont told Sky News on Tuesday that she was one of the people who spoke to the Guardian about allegations raised with her about Walliams.
A young TV worker had approached Beaumont about concerns of Walliams engaging inappropriate behaviour with “young girls” who were “definitely” older than 16, the comedian said.
The young person said he had worked on a program involving Walliams where he was tasked with taking the “young girls” to Walliams’ dressing room, adding: “He felt they were vulnerable”.
“At the time, he didn’t think there was a process, a way to let people know within the TV company what was happening and how he felt and I was really worried.”
Beaumont said she reached out to an alleged victim who was “in a really bad way” and was worried about her well-being but said the woman “declined my offer of support”.
The 43-year-old comedian said she had never worked with Walliams or witnessed any inappropriate behaviour from him but was “worried that these girls were very young”.
She believes there is not a robust “duty of care” to protect people within the TV industry from sexual misconduct and an adequate reporting system for whistleblowers.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said on Tuesday: “These allegations are the latest in a long line of reported abuses of power in an industry where we have known for so long that the power imbalances are huge.
“Russell Brand’s eventual conviction was a stark reminder that we are still far too reliant on the courage of brave women who choose to come forward despite knowing they will pay a heavy price and may not be believed – and a handful of persistent journalists who risk everything to tell their stories.
“Women must feel safe in their jobs, whistleblowers must be protected, and those who abuse their position must no longer be able to hide behind it.”
