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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 9, 2026

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The unnamed celebrity now has been revealed as David Walliams. A Kiwi Farms user has provided a convenient summary of the timeline, apparently from this court document.

May 2022 - An unnamed male celebrity is approached by The Guardian about allegations of inappropriate behaviour in several personal and professional contexts. The celebrity denied them and nothing was published.

November 2022 - Someone leaks a load of off colour comments David Walliams made during a taping of Britain's Got Talent. He apologises but is replaced by Bruno Tonioli.

2023 - A junior employee at HarperCollins raises concern about Walliams' behaviour. HarperCollins begins an investigation. The Guardian and ITN agree to do a joint investigation into the unnamed male celebrity.

October 2023 - Walliams sues the production company behind Britain's Got Talent for a data breach, claiming the BBC and Channel 4 pulled planned adaptations of his books and a travelogue across India as the result of reputational damage, and that it caused him "psychiatric harm", including setting off a severe depressive episode of bipolar disorder. They settle out of court.

2024 - HarperCollins concludes its investigation. The junior employee gets a five figure payoff and leaves the business. HarperCollins advises employees to not visit Walliams at home, that female employees should work in pairs when dealing with Walliams, and takes steps to ensure certain employees do not have to work with him at all.

June 2025 - David Walliams does Nazi salutes during the filming of the Would I Lie To You? Christmas special. This immediately gets leaked to the papers by the audience. The BBC stresses that they have no further scheduled plans to work with David Walliams. The Children's Trust terminates David Walliams as an ambassador.

October 2025 - The CEO of HarperCollins, Charlie Redmayne, resigns and is replaced by Kate Elton. Matt Lucas stops doing his podcast with Walliams.

December 2025 - The Telegraph report comes out. HarperCollins drops him as a client (despite his books representing half of all their children books' sales).

January 2026 - David Walliams performs to an audience of just 48 at local pub - as scandal-hit comedian claws his way back from allegations of 'harassment'. Matt Lucas is asked for comment about David Walliams and refuses to say anything.

March 2026 - YMU, his TV representatives, fire him as a client. Various shows like "An Evening with David Williams" are cancelled. All remaining charities sever ties with Walliams.

May 2026 - ITN and the Guardian send an unnamed celebrity a letter containing 278 allegations concerning his alleged abuse of his power and status as a well-known public figure in order to establish contact with young women, who were also considerably younger than him, and engage, and/or seek to engage in inappropriate sexual activity, including potential criminal activity. The celebrity admits himself to a psychiatric hospital. The celebrity’s representatives supplied the the Guardian and ITN with medical information concerning his condition. The material included warnings from treating clinicians that publication and the anticipated public scrutiny could precipitate serious self-harm or an attempt to take his own life.

The journalists had spoken to more than 100 people, including more than 30 sources said to have first-hand accounts. The sources included not only those making allegations, but friends, colleagues, former partners, relatives and others who might corroborate or contradict their accounts. The key sources were interviewed repeatedly, and the journalists considered contemporaneous messages, emails and other documents. The Defendants’ evidence was that no source had been paid or offered any incentive Ms Wilson explained that the First Defendant’s investigation had not been directed towards a predetermined conclusion. The journalists were instructed to avoid leading those whom they approached and to invite them to describe their experiences in their own terms. The evidence obtained from sources was subjected to internal editorial and legal scrutiny, and each Defendant involved senior editorial staff in considering whether the proposed allegations were sufficiently supported to justify publication. The Defendants’ evidence was that some sources wished to speak publicly because they believed the Claimant’s conduct should be exposed and that other women should be warned or protected. The Defendants also relied upon the number of allegations, the period over which they were said to have occurred, the Claimant’s public status and the professional contexts in which some of the alleged conduct occurred. They regarded those matters as giving rise to a strong public interest in publication

June 2026 - Matt Lucas joins Season 22 of Taskmaster, which might be a prudent thing to do if your old comedy partner is about to get a load of negative press, and you want a family friendly appearance to be fresh in everyone's minds.

July 2026 - The unnamed celebrity absconds from the psychiatric hospital and attempts to kill himself, which is further cited by the celebrity's representatives as evidence that the allegations should not be published because he's super serious about killing himself guys. The Guardian and ITN suggest appointing an agreed psychiatric expert so that all parties can agree a course of action, as they believe it's in the public interest to publish (but they don't want to be blamed for someone offing himself).

August/September 2026 - This is about when the injunction is filed. Dr. Intikhab Qurashi, the court appointed consultant forensic psychologist, diagnoses the celebrity with a bipolar depressive episode, and he might kill himself but it's hard to say, he probably just needs a lot of psychiatric help. An initial anonymity order is granted. Taskmaster starts broadcasting. HarperCollins unpersons David Walliams by "phasing out" his back catalogue.

13th October 2026 - The unnamed celebrity has a recorded conversation with his solicitor that is submitted to Dr Qurashi. In that discussion, the Claimant stated that his suicidal thoughts had persisted after discharge; that he had lied about his mental state to get reduced restrictions and eventual discharge; that he did not regard hospital admission as a permanent answer to the publication-related risk; and that he did not wish to cooperate with measures whose purpose was to prevent him taking his life if publication occurred. He also described the importance of his relationship with his son and his belief that publication would cause that relationship to be lost or seriously damaged.

14th October 2026 - David Walliams looks ashen on a coffee date with a female friend as he is seen for the first time since being 'cancelled' over 'inappropriate behaviour towards women'.

22nd October 2026 - Dr. Qurashi gets the unnamed celebrity sectioned and basically says "he probably won't kill himself if you publish the allegations while he's in the loony bin" meaning the suicide baiting has backfired (lol)

If it is David Walliams, probably what was happening was a culture of silence to protect the golden goose... but he started damaging his own earning potential by doing weird/creepy stuff in public, so he lost that protection. The unnamed male celebrity needs to file reasons for appeal against the refusal to grant an injunction by the 9th.

Huh, I should've put two and two together, I knew Walliams had been #MeToo'd. For some reason I thought PPT was someone younger, maybe an ex-footballer in his thirties.

Now seems as good a time as any to discuss our favourite Little Britain catchphrases. "I'm the only gay in the vill-age!"