Amid the serious allegations that David Walliams groomed and abused young women over a number of years, can we really be expected to believe that his former close friend Jonathan Ross knew nothing about the rumours? Or that he was unaware of the way Russell Brand allegedly treated women who crossed his path?
Following the deeply disturbing claims that Walliams preyed on teenage girls and abused his position of power as far back as 2003 — allegations the former Little Britain star strongly denies — Ross said: ‘I am as horrified by the revelations about David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand as the rest of the nation.
‘There was a time in my life when I was on friendly terms with both men and, during that period, I was genuinely unaware of their conduct.’ He added: ‘My thoughts are with the many, many women who have bravely come forward.’
Genuinely unaware? I’m sorry, but I find that difficult to accept.
I admit that ‘Wossy’ and I have our own history. As the saying goes, I have ‘skin in the game’.
I encountered him at a pre-Christmas event on Hampstead Heath, close to where I lived, in 2021.
Jonathan Ross said he was ‘horrified’ by the allegations involving David Walliams, whom he met in the early 2000s
Ross with Russell Brand, who was jailed this week for more than ten years after being convicted of rape and sexual assault
Ross was with his wife, Jane Goldman, and their daughter Honey when he saw me approaching. He then snarled, with barely concealed contempt: ‘They don’t let dogs in here, Amanda.’
Perhaps he was acting protectively towards Honey. I had previously criticised her after questioning whether it was wise for her to post photographs of herself wearing a G-string in an attempt to challenge what she described as a ‘fat-phobic’ society.
Even so, that hardly gave Ross the right to call me a ‘dog’. What kind of man speaks to a woman like that?
Whatever his reason, the incident left me with a lasting impression of the sort of man he is.
That is why I believe his statement about Russell Brand and David Walliams was less an expression of genuine shock than an attempt to protect his own reputation.
The problem is that it has not worked.
After all, none of us can forget that in 2008 Ross joined the so-called ‘jape’ on his Radio 2 programme, when his then friend Russell Brand humiliated Andrew Sachs by leaving a crude message about having sex with the actor’s granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.
To understand just how offensive the episode was, it is worth recalling Brand’s words: ‘Andrew Sachs, Andrew Sachs. I said something I didn’t oughta, like I had sex with your granddaughter.
Ross and his then friend Brand left a crude message about having sex with Georgina Baillie during Ross’s Radio 2 show in 2008
Ms Baillie is the granddaughter of the late Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs
‘But it was consensual and she wasn’t menstrual, it was consensual lovely sex. It was full of respect, I sent her a text, I’ve asked her to marry me, Andrew Sachs.’
Ross and Brand found the whole thing hilarious. They are not laughing now.
Ross also appeared to refer to alleged inappropriate behaviour by David Walliams towards young girls at the 2004 Comedy Awards. ‘The comedy awards is 15 years old,’ he joked, ‘and like most 15-year-olds is probably going home with David Walliams.’
Why make such a remark in front of a room packed with television celebrities unless those listening were expected to understand the reference? Does it not suggest that rumours about Walliams were already circulating in the wealthy, self-satisfied media world in which Ross moved?
Ross addressed the issue in his statement. He accepted that the joke was tasteless, but said: ‘This joke was submitted to me by the Comedy Awards script-writing team and I believed that the punchline was a reference to the fact he had publicly dated younger women, exaggerated for comic effect.
‘Had I had any reason to suspect that it might be referring to actual events, I would not only have refused to use it, but I would not have felt comfortable continuing a personal or professional relationship with him.’
At the 2004 Comedy Awards, Ross appeared to allude to alleged behaviour by Walliams, joking that the 15-year-old event was ‘probably going home with David Walliams’
Ross with Walliams at a charity event in 2003, where the Little Britain star had his arm around 18-year-old Lilly Creightmore
Oh, please, Wossy. That explanation sounds deeply sanctimonious. At the time, you were one of the most successful presenters in broadcasting, having recently signed a BBC contract reportedly worth around £6million a year.
Would the BBC really have paid such an extraordinary sum to someone who simply read out — without questioning — an offensive joke supplied by an awards ceremony’s scriptwriters?
Was Ross not expected to exercise his own judgement? Or did he choose to overlook Brand’s behaviour and the alleged conduct of Walliams towards young women?
Ross insists he knew nothing. If that is true, he must have been among the least perceptive people in the media as he continued to welcome both Brand and Walliams onto his programmes.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that Jonathan Ross was involved in anything resembling the alleged conduct attributed to Walliams or the abuse allegations made against Brand.
Ross has been married to Jane Goldman, the acclaimed screenwriter and mother of their three children, since 1988.
I am simply asking how anyone can accept his claim that he knew so little about Brand and Walliams when he maintained close personal and professional relationships with both men for so many years.
Ross met Walliams in the early 2000s and was photographed with him at a charity event in 2003. In the image, Walliams has his arm around 18-year-old Lilly Creightmore.
Creightmore said Walliams contacted her after seeing her at a live Little Britain filming. She alleged that he obtained her address, made contact and later met her for dinner, where she says his ‘grooming’ of her began.
Ross became friends with Brand in 2006, after Brand appeared on BBC One’s Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. Then came the Sachsgate scandal, which both men described as a ‘bonding’ experience that brought them ‘very close’. Their friendship was such that Ross attended Brand’s first wedding, to Katy Perry, in 2010, and his second, to Laura Gallacher, in 2017.
There is a familiar saying, often attributed to the 18th-century philosopher Edmund Burke: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’
Does Ross fit that description — a good man who said or did nothing? Was he an unwitting facilitator of the alleged abuse of women by Brand and Walliams while continuing to associate with them? Both men appeared on his television programmes and seemed to believe they were untouchable.
Or did he simply decide not to confront an ugly truth? Only Ross knows.
But his insistence that he was ‘genuinely unaware’ of what was happening is unlikely to restore much of the credibility he has already lost.
