David Walliams has claimed the BBC has stopped funding one of his projects after his foul-mouthed comments on Britain’s Got Talent came to light.
The comedian, 52, decided to quit the ITV talent show after being forced to apologize for describing an older contestant as a ‘bastard’ in 2022.
He is now suing TV giant Fremantle over an alleged data breach and has accessed High Court documents The mirrorhe claims the alleged leak has damaged his other projects.
David states that the BBC has withdrawn some funding for an animated series of his 2011 book Gangsta Granny due to ‘negative publicity’.
The series is said to be in development but has yet to be commissioned by the BBC, with funding from the company prior to David’s BGT scandal.
Claims: David Walliams has claimed the BBC has stopped funding one of his projects after his foul-mouthed comments on Britain’s Got Talent came to light
According to documents filed by David’s lawyer, non-BBC adaptations have been axed from the star’s books.
The BBC has adapted seven of David’s books, the most recent of which came out last December: Gangsta Granny Strikes Again, starring Walliams, Sheridan Smith, Kevin Bishop and Griff Rhys Jones.
Insiders told The Mirror that his next series ‘will soon go into production and air on the BBC’.
The source said: ‘David remains the best-selling children’s book author in Britain and the animation is progressing as expected.’
MailOnline has contacted representatives for David and the BBC for comment.
The news comes after Britain’s Got Talent insiders told MailOnline he was ‘warned about his behaviour’ before his derogatory comments about contestants led to his departure.
According to court documents, bosses were ‘aware of his controversial comments about contestants when they offered him a £1 million contact’ – but insiders have since dismissed those claims.
A BGT source told MailOnline: ‘What David said was completely unacceptable and he was warned about his behaviour.
“This whole summons is frankly bizarre. There are some statements in there that seem unusual, but there was certainly no contract ready to be signed and sealed.”
A Fremantle source told The Guardian that the judges were aware their conversations were being recorded, adding: ‘It seems slightly bizarre given that it was widely reported in 2018 that any comments the judges made at the counter would even be included. while not speaking to the participants.”
A Fremantle spokesperson previously said: “We have had a long and productive relationship with David and are therefore surprised and saddened by this legal action.
They added: “For our part, we remain available and open to dialogue to resolve this matter amicably. But in the meantime, we will investigate the various allegations and are prepared to defend ourselves vigorously if necessary.”
On screen: David claims the BBC has withdrawn some funding for an animated series of his 2011 book Gangsta Granny due to ‘negative publicity’ (David pictured with Sheridan Smith and Archie Yates in 2022’s Gangsta Granny Strikes Again!)
According to the Supreme Court writ, David allegedly accuses Fremantle of recording, transcribing and keeping private conversations for ten years.
He has reportedly claimed that his microphone was kept on and recorded all day during filming, including when he went to the toilet.
It is alleged that Fremantle produced and retained transcripts of the audio recordings, which David claims contained private information ‘not relevant to the production’ – such as conversations about his marriage, sex life and family disputes.
The transcripts reportedly include 1,700 hours of audio recordings over a ten-year period, as well as 41,526 hours of visual recordings from 191 days of filming.
A copy of the transcripts was also said to have been made available to Simon Cowell’s co-producer Syco upon request, but a source told The Sun that it was never requested.
“All four judges regularly joked using crude and/or sexual language: that was the culture among the judges on the show,” his lawyers alleged.
They claimed that the judges made such jokes to entertain themselves during long days of filming and that the comments were never intended to be made public as they were “private conversations between adult friends.”
David is reportedly claiming £1 million that he would receive from Britain’s Got Talent, as well as £1.7 million in lost earnings and £3.4 million to cover future losses for at least two years – a total of £6.1 million.
But sources reportedly claimed this could rise to as much as £10million as David is reportedly seeking unspecified damages for psychiatric damage, fear and distress, loss of control of his private information and legal costs.
David’s earnings reportedly fell from £3.7 million in 2022 to just £101,800 in the first five months of 2023, according to court papers seen by The Sun.
The scandal also heard David belittle a female contestant, calling her a ‘slightly boring girl who you meet in the pub and think you want to fuck them but you don’t’.
Comedian Clare Harrison Mccartney later claimed these comments were about her and branded David a ‘sad misogynist’, but producers denied the comments were directed at her.
Bruno Tonioli later took over as a jury member on the talent show and signed a big-money deal.
The comments, made in January 2020 during auditions at the London Palladium, were picked up by the programme’s microphones.
He and his lawyers argued at the time that they were private conversations never intended for broadcast, but two weeks later he was deposed.
In one incident, an older performer engaged in light-hearted banter with the judges, making a joke about Walliams, The Guardian claimed.
Lawsuit: David (pictured in 2019) has reportedly accused London-based Fremantle, which produces the reality series for ITV, of an unlawful data protection breach
After the audition, the pensioner left, after which Walliams allegedly described him as a ‘c**t’ three times.
In a separate incident, after a female contestant left the stage, Walliams commented: ‘She’s like the slightly boring girl you meet in the pub who thinks you want to fuck them but you don’t.’ He later added, “I know, she just says, ‘Oh, fuck off!’ I said, she thinks you want to fuck her, but you don’t.
“It’s the last thing on your mind, but she says, ‘Yes, I bet you do!’
‘No, I don’t! I was a bit ab***r, but now I’m fine, it’s shriveled up in my body now.’
