LONDON (AP) — London police said Friday that they are investigating children’s author and TV personality David Walliams for serious sexual offenses after news outlets reported that he used his fame to groom girls and young women for sex.
The Metropolitan Police said it had received a number of allegations of past abuse following the joint investigation by ITV News and the Guardian newspaper.
One woman said in the reports that she was sexually assaulted by Walliams at his London home when she was 15, while others accused him of grooming them when they were teens.
Police are investigating different allegations than those reported by the news outlets, but said they will look into the news stories for any evidence of other crimes.
Walliams, 55, has denied the allegations, saying he had not broken any laws and was not a sexual predator.
“I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me,” Walliams said in writing to ITV and the Guardian. “Whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did.”
Walliams is best known as the co-creator and co-star in “Little Britain,” a hugely popular TV comedy sketch show in the 2000s, but he’s also a celebrated children’s book author with some 40 published titles that sold more than 60 million copies worldwide, according to his website.
Several books, including “Gangsta Granny,” have been adapted into BBC comedy dramas and stage productions. Producers of “Fing!” — an upcoming film based on Walliams’ book — said in a statement Tuesday that they had removed his cameo appearance and that Walliams “will have no involvement in the film’s release or promotion.” He is credited as a co-writer.
U.K. distributor Sky told Variety it was dropping the movie. Angel Studios, the U.S. distributor, did not answer The Associated Press’ emailed query about its plans for the film.
Walliams was dropped last year by publisher HarperCollins after allegations were made of inappropriate behavior. Few details were published at the time, but the Guardian reported that there were concerns about his behavior for years, including an allegation he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior female employee.
He was also a judge for a decade on “Britain’s Got Talent,” though he stepped down in 2022 after apologizing for making “disrespectful comments” about auditioning contestants.
The reports into Walliams' alleged misconduct were published a day after British actor-comedian Russell Brand was sentenced to 10½ years in prison for rape and sexual assault. The two stories together drew comparisons and caused wider soul-searching over celebrities getting away with sexual misconduct in the U.K.
Brand's accusers in court had come forward after a joint investigation by The Times and Channel 4. Since his sentencing, more women have come forward to make claims against him, The Times reported. Police are also investigating two other cases against him.
The Guardian and ITV said they spoke to more than 100 people during a three-year investigation into Walliams.
Walliams had sought a court injunction to prevent the news outlets from identifying him, but a judge rejected the application, saying such a legal measure would be “an exceptionally serious interference” with the media's rights.
Walliams had claimed that publication of sexual misconduct allegations would lead him to take his own life, but Justice Matthew Nicklin said it was the responsibility of mental health services to look after his safety.
Walliams has not spoken publicly since the story was first reported Tuesday afternoon.
Police, meanwhile, encouraged any sex offense victim to come forward.
“We know reporting allegations of this nature can be daunting, but specialist officers are on hand to provide support, answer questions and guide you through the process," Det. Supt. Mike Cagney said.
FILE - David Walliams poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "The Choral " during the London film festival in London, on Oct. 12, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Abdul El-Sayed has proposed “TrumpCare,” a golden insurance card providing universal healthcare, dangling the president's name on the ambitious Democratic plan.
James Talarico has suggested Donald Trump could become a man of history like Lyndon B. Johnson, who was seen as a master of congressional dealmaking.
And even Hakeem Jeffries, in line to become the House speaker in January, has left the door open to working with the other side of the aisle “wherever and whenever possible” to deliver for the American people.
Democrats who swept into power by riding voter backlash to Trump are now pitching ways to collaborate with the president, playing to his vanity and his love of making deals to propel their own agenda.
The offers coming from the Democrats carry both practical and political applications — a strategy to show that the party is serious about the hard work of legislating and also an acknowledgment that Trump's signature is needed for new laws.
Trump himself has said he doesn't want to spend the final two years of his presidency simply vetoing bills from the Democrats in control of Congress. It was only a few short years ago, during his first term, that Trump stunned Republicans by cutting deals with the Democratic leaders he called “Chuck and Nancy” — Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Before the next Congress begins in January, Democrats are trying to entice Trump with the prospect of timeless glory to a president fixated on making his mark on Washington.
All he has to do, they say, is work with them to deliver sweeping policies like Medicare for All.
“Donald, this is on the table. Guarantee healthcare for every American, from cradle to grave,” El-Sayed, who won the U.S. Senate race in Michigan after Trump branded him a terrorist sympathizer, wrote on social media.
He attached mock-ups of a gold-colored card, with Trump’s name and signature far more prominent than the small text reading “Medicare for All.”
Universal healthcare has long been anathema to Republicans, although Congress — and even the Republican president himself — will face pressure to deal with rising costs.
Trump’s willingness to slog through extended negotiations with Democrats is an open question, and his past promises of dealmaking have been hit and miss. He reiterated Thursday he is willing to work with Democrats.
“I’m going to be vetoing a lot of things that they’re going to send me initially that are bad for the country, and I think eventually they’re going to call in, they’re going to say, ‘Let’s make a deal,’ and we’ll be able to make deals on healthcare, on drug prices,” the president told commentator Stephen A. Smith in an interview.
Trump's choice of Stephen Miller as his new White House chief of staff may foreclose some of those opportunities, however. Jeffries described Miller as a “stone-cold racist” and said he has “zero interest” in working with him.
The pitches from some of Democrats’ most high-profile new arrivals in Washington will help shape the party's approach for the rest of Trump’s presidency.
Talarico, the Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas, described the ways that Johnson is memorialized on Capitol Hill and remembered for shaping civil rights and social services as a senator and president.
“If President Trump wants the same plaques and portraits and busts as LBJ, we can help make that a reality,” Talarico said Thursday at the What’s Next conference in Denver, where many Democrats gathered to plot their way forward.
Talarico made his pitch to Democrats as much as to Trump. After getting the fulsome repudiation of Trump they’ve been seeking for a decade, the party’s base voters may not be eager to see their newly elected leaders standing with him for a bipartisan signing ceremony at the White House Rose Garden that he paved over to create a patio resembling his Mar-a-Lago resort.
However, Talarico said Americans are counting on bold changes before the next president takes office after Trump’s second term ends.
“Some of these reforms may not pass until 2029, but the American people cannot wait two years for change,” he said. “So we must work with President Trump.”
The eagerness to work with Trump is notable from El-Sayed and Talarico, who were among the president’s most frequent targets as he hop-scotched the country for Republicans ahead of the midterms. He singled them out for especially personal attacks, questioning El-Sayed’s loyalty to the United States and labeling the Texan as “Talafreako.”
Cooper reported from Phoenix.
FILE - White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, listens as President Donald Trump speaks and announces action to help farmers and ranchers, Sept. 4, 2026, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance clap while recognizing veterans in the crowd during a ceremony for Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., discusses his agenda to reverse the policies of President Donald Trump during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed, D-Mich., and his wife Sarah Jukaku, left, walk to a gathering at the Capitol as Congress returns to work following the sweeping victory by Democrats in the midterm elections, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
James Talarico, senator-elect of Texas, speaks during a Democratic conference Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
