Graham Linehan makes Jonathan Ross admission after breaking silence on Walliams

详细摘要

Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has issued a statement on Jonathan Ross, after breaking his silence on David Walliams. Talk show host Ross, 65, was friends with both Walliams w…

Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has issued a statement on Jonathan Ross, after breaking his silence on David Walliams. Talk show host Ross, 65, was friends with both Walliams – who is currently under investigation for “serious sexual offences” – and convicted rapist Russell Brand, and issued a statement last week condemning both stars. Ross insisted he was “horrified” by allegations against Walliams and Brand’s conviction, admitting he used to be “on friendly terms with both men” but was “genuinely unaware of their conduct”.

He also addressed a joke he made at an awards show in 2004, in which he quipped Walliams could “go home” with a 15-year-old. He branded the joke “tasteless” and insisted he didn’t write it himself.

Ross said: “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."

Now comedy writer Graham Linehan, who worked on shows like Father Ted and The IT Crowd, has opened up on his own feelings on Ross.

He said: “Jonathan Ross is one of the few principled men in UK comedy: compassionate, thoughtful and hugely protective of his family, to whom he is devoted.”

Linehan, who directed the pilot episode of Walliams’ Little Britain, previously said: “My most embarrassing mistake was directing the pilot of Little Britain and making Matt [Lucas] and David famous.”

He previously texted Walliams in 2020 to ask him to sign a letter defending JK Rowling over her controversial views on trans people.

Linehan shared the text exchange, which ended with “Daivd? Are you getting any of these?” on X in 2024, with the caption: “The last time I ‘spoke’ to Walliams, who literally wouldn’t have his career were it not for me.

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