Lucy Beaumont says she fears losing television work after sharing concerns about David Walliams with The Guardian. The comedian and Hullraisers writer identified herself as one of the whistleblowers in an interview on Sky News’ The Cathy Newman Show, as reported by Deadline and Page Six. Source Source
According to Deadline, ITV News and The Guardian published an investigation on November 10 alleging that Walliams used his position on shows including Little Britain and Britain’s Got Talent to meet teenagers and pursue sexual contact with them. Walliams strongly denies wrongdoing. Source
“I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law,” Walliams told ITV News, according to Deadline. He also denied abusing the power imbalance associated with his fame. Source
“I don’t think I’ll work in [television] again,” Beaumont said in the interview. She argued that high-profile people stay quiet because they risk losing work and being seen as a “trouble causer.” Source
In her account, the person raising the concern risks becoming the problem. Neither report documents withdrawn bookings or an actual blacklist. Source Source
“There’s no proper duty of care,” Beaumont said of television. “There hasn’t been a process that you can deal with.” Source Source
Beaumont said a young person working their first television job approached her three years before the interview. The worker was concerned about girls being taken to Walliams’ dressing room and did not think there was a way to raise those concerns within the television company, she said. Source
She said she contacted one girl and offered to pay legal fees to help her obtain protection. “I’m not saying necessarily that what she said was true,” she said, “but I wanted to help her because it was a world that she was really out of her depth with.” Source
“Unless you do talk about it frankly, I don’t think anything will change,” Beaumont said. Source
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