British government ready to force the entertainment industry to reform after allegations against Walliams

Government threatens compulsory measures

The British government is ready to force the entertainment industry to improve staff protection measures if it does not do so quickly itself. As BBC Newsnight has learned, culture secretary Lisa Nandy will tell leaders of broadcasting, publishing, film and entertainment companies at a meeting next week that if the response is not firm enough, she is ready to push for mandatory participation in the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) — an industry body for protecting whistleblowers, whose membership is currently voluntary. Earlier this week, Nandy said she was gathering industry leaders to 'draw a line'. According to Newsnight, she intends to deliver two messages: the industry must 'rise to the moment' and address problems itself, but if the response proves insufficient, the government may have to intervene.

What prompted the authorities' reaction

The trigger was an investigation by the Guardian and ITV News in which several women accused David Walliams of sexual harassment and abuse of position, as well as the conviction of Russell Brand on charges of rape and sexual assault. Walliams denies all the allegations. The Guardian and ITV investigation, three years in the making, was published after Walliams lost a legal attempt to prevent the publication of claims about him. According to the Guardian, some of the women say he 'groomed' them as teenagers; one of them now describes alleged contact with him at the age of 15 as 'sexual abuse'. In a letter to journalists published by the newspaper, Walliams stated that he is 'not a sexual predator' and 'has never broken the law', while admitting that he sometimes behaved 'recklessly' towards partners in casual encounters.

Pressure against non-disclosure agreements

On Wednesday, several government ministers spoke out for further restrictions on the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson told Sky News there is 'room to go further' in legislation so that the legal system is not used 'to abuse in order to silence women'. 'We cannot have a system in which rich and powerful people — rich and powerful men — are able to silence women,' she said. Zelda Perkins, founder of the organisation Can't Buy My Silence, who previously worked as an assistant to Harvey Weinstein and broke an NDA in 2017, told Newsnight that in the creative industries there are 'not enough safeguards' for the entourage of public figures and that joining CIISA should be 'mandatory': 'There are no other regulators where membership is voluntary,' she noted, adding that 'those who do not join are precisely the ones who should be under scrutiny'.

Testimony from inside the industry

A producer who worked on a TV show where Walliams was a guest star several years ago told the BBC on condition of anonymity that she was tasked with keeping the comedian away from young female staff: he was described as 'creepy' and 'inappropriate', and the fact that he should not be paired with young assistants was 'common knowledge'. She said she was 'not at all surprised' by the emergence of the allegations. According to the Guardian, Walliams's lawyers stated that he had never received warnings and had not 'got into trouble' over correspondence with assistants, and denied that he behaved inappropriately and harassed young women in the workplace. Comedian Katherine Ryan told Newsnight that Walliams's name came up 'time and again' in conversations about working with young people. Separately, the BBC reported that a children's author had spoken of 'real concerns' about Walliams in the publishing industry, while TV presenter Jonathan Ross said he was 'shocked' by the allegations against Walliams and Brand's conviction.

Why the allegations came out only now

Publication became possible after the court rejected Walliams's attempt to remain anonymous — the BBC described this as an unprecedented legal battle. When asked why the allegations took so long to surface publicly, Smurthwaite told Newsnight: 'We all know that women who raise these issues face a backlash — perhaps legal, perhaps in terms of their career or opportunities, perhaps something as subtle as their reputation being damaged for making trouble.' Separately, the Metropolitan Police in London is investigating new 'potential criminal allegations' in connection with the Brand case, according to the BBC. Anyone affected by the issues raised in this article can seek support through the BBC Action Line.