Jonathan Ross’ weasel words on David Walliams aren’t enough

Résumé détaillé

We have one epidemic of male harassment, and another of male silence.

‘And like most 15-year-olds, it’s drunk, it’s unpredictable, and it’s probably going home with David Walliams’.

Presenter Jonathan Ross stood on stage at the British Comedy Awards in 2004, and made this joke about comedian David Walliams. The camera panned to Walliams, who grinned and put up two fingers in response.

Next to Walliams, his comedy co-star Matt Lucas smiled and behind him, Angus Deayton looked on. Next to him, a surprised Sarah Alexander stared at Walliams, as he chuckled.

But no one bothered to ask why Jonathan Ross just made that joke – and his own statement of regret this week doesn’t do nearly enough.

Now, more than 20 years on, Walliams has been accused with allegations of assault – and astonishingly, one victim has claimed he groomed her from as young as 15.

Yesterday, ITV and The Guardian published a joint investigation into Walliams, which claims he has harassed women in the workplace, and his fans, for over a decade – he denies the allegations.

Today, Ross has released a statement saying he was ‘horrified’ about Walliams, and the crimes of rapist Russell Brand, while maintaining he was ‘genuinely unaware’ of the Little Britain star’s alleged conduct.

Ross also claimed that the joke he made at the awards were ‘written by the script writing team’, not by him.

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