David Walliams has settled his lawsuit against Britain’s Got Talent for “conveniently less” than the £10m he was seeking and walked away with £1m, it is claimed.
Insiders said the settlement amount was equivalent to about a year’s salary.
On Monday it was confirmed that the 52-year-old TV star had settled his lawsuit against Freemantle, the makers of Britain’s Got Talent, after he was axed from the ITV show following the publication of his comments during judging.
David resigned as a judge a year ago after a recording of him making offensive comments about contestants was leaked.
It is alleged that the settlement amount was due to many of David’s arguments in the case against the “failure” of Freemantle.
Fremantle were forced to accept that their security measures had failed, which led to Walliams’ comments being leaked to the Guardian, hence the decision to settle.
David Walliams has settled his lawsuit against Britain’s Got Talent for “conveniently less” than the £10 million he was seeking
Sources have told Web that the star has agreed to a deal that is said to be “well below” the £10 million he was seeking and well under £5 million.
The former Little Britain star is said to have claimed in court documents that producers “recorded, transcribed and stored” all of his conversations throughout his decades-long tenure and that he had no idea his microphone was “left on” throughout the day and recorded”. of filming.
He claimed 1,700 hours of audio recordings were collected, including a personal conversation with fellow judges Alesha Dixon, Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden about the impact of his father’s death.
He claimed Fremantle had breached privacy regulations, but pointed out that BGT announced in April 2018 that all cameras would “now be running 24 hours a day”.
The star was caught on a hot mic during a talent show at the London Palladium, shouting “shit” three times at an older contestant as he left the stage.
He also claimed another contestant would think he wanted to “fuck” her. Walliams publicly apologized when the recordings were first published by The Guardian last year.
In Supreme Court documents released last month, his lawyers argued that the comments were part of a private conversation that was not intended for broadcast. Lawyers for Thames TV, the production company behind BGT, agreed.
The insiders have stated that the relatively modest severance payment was equivalent to around a year’s salary – around £1 million (pictured on the show with co-judges Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell).
The court documents also revealed he received a letter from The Guardian about his leaked audio recordings last year, months before he was offered a new contract by BGT.
Walliams claimed the publication’s letter was the first time he had become aware that Fremantle was “collecting and storing significantly more of his personal information than he had been told”.
However, a Fremantle source said the show’s judges knew they would always be recorded, adding to the publication: “It seems a bit bizarre as it was widely reported in 2018 that all judges’ comments at the desk would be recorded. “, even if they didn’t talk to the participants.’
Walliams’ lawyers say he accepted the job offer 18 days after the Guardian article was published on November 10, 2022.
However, Fremantle withdrew the offer on December 14, in what Walliams described as a “response to the publication” of the article.
Court documents revealed that the author and broadcaster stated that his earnings had been “severely reduced” due to the negative publicity surrounding the story
David said in court documents that he has struggled with severe depression since being fired and has “active suicidal thoughts.” In a report, consultant psychiatrist Dr. Mark Collins, who treated David for years, said the star’s depression was “possibly the worst since I first met him”.
Collins said the leak of the transcripts had “profound, serious and at times very worrying impacts on his mental health.”
Court documents also showed that the star said his earnings had been “severely reduced” due to the negative publicity surrounding the story.
David claimed the BBC cut funding for one of his projects after his foul language on Britain’s Got Talent came to light.
According to the comedian, the BBC has withdrawn some of its funding for an animated series of his 2011 book Gangsta Granny due to “negative publicity”.
Last October it was reported that the series was in development but had not yet been commissioned by the BBC, with funding having already been provided by the BBC prior to David’s BGT scandal.
According to David’s lawyer, non-BBC adaptations of the star’s books have also been axed.
A Freemantle spokesman said on Monday: “We are pleased to have amicably resolved this dispute with David.” We are sincerely sorry that his private conversations as a judge on “Britain’s Got Talent” were made public and that this has been a source of trouble for David represented a great burden.
“We have reviewed our production practices for the show to ensure they fully respect the expectations of our talent while meeting the needs of the show.” We have had a great relationship with David for many years.
“We thank David for being an important part of the Britain’s Got Talent family and for the continued success of the show and hope we have opportunities to work with him in the future.”
Representatives for Walliams have been contacted by Web for comment.