David Walliams has been dropped by his publisher following an investigation by The Telegraph into inappropriate behaviour towards young women.
Walliams, one of the country’s best-selling children’s authors, faced accusations that he had “harassed” junior female employees at HarperCollins.
One woman who raised concerns was given a five-figure payoff by the publisher and left the business.
This publication began investigating allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Walliams last year.
The decision to drop Walliams comes after the sudden departure of Charlie Redmayne, the publisher’s former chief executive, who left in October. Kate Elton succeeded him as interim boss. It is understood that Walliams did not know about the HarperCollins investigation and that its conclusions were not put to him.
A spokesman for HarperCollins told the Telegraph: “After careful consideration, and under the leadership of its new CEO, HarperCollins UK has decided not to publish any new titles by David Walliams. The author is aware of this decision.
“HarperCollins takes employee wellbeing extremely seriously and has processes in place for reporting and investigating concerns. To respect the privacy of individuals we do not comment on internal matters.”
Walliams, who rose to fame more than 20 years ago through the comedy series Little Britain, has since become one of Britain’s most successful authors, with more than 40 books and short story collections to his name and sales of more than 60 million copies. In 2019 it was estimated that he and his publisher had sold £100m worth of books.
His books are widely used in schools, have been translated into 55 languages, according to HarperCollins, and have been adapted for television by the BBC.
