Right, this is what’s actually going on with David Walliams’ Britain’s Got Talent lawsuit

David Walliams has had a particularly chaos year. Last November, after being caught making seriously explicit comments about two contestants on Britain’s Got Talent in January 2020, he quit his role as a judge on the show and was replaced by Bruno Toniolli. By September, it emerged he was suing the show’s production company.

So, as David’s High Court documents hit the headlines, here’s everything you need to know about the £10million “data protection breach” legal battle between him and BGT’s production company, Fremantle:

Ok, so what comments did David Walliams actually make on Britain’s Got Talent?

Last November, it emerged that David had made sexually explicit comments about two Britains Got Talent contestants while filming an episode of the show after a transcript of his mic recording was given to the Guardian. In the transcript, David referred to one elderly contestant as a “c*nt” and said of a second: “She’s like the slightly boring girl you meet in the pub that thinks you want to fuck them, but you don’t.”

David made the comments while filming Britain’s Got Talent at the London Palladium in January 2020, and his lawyers have argued the comments were made as part of a private conversation, which wasn’t intended to be part of a broadcast.

“I would like to apologise to the people I made disrespectful comments about during breaks in filming for Britain’s Got Talent in 2020,” David commented at the time. “These were private conversations and – like most conversations with friends – were never intended to be shared. Nevertheless, I am sorry.”

And why is David now suing the Britain’s Got Talent production company?

So, despite apologising for making the derogatory comments about the Britain’s Got Talent contestants, David and his legal team have claimed he thought he was only being recorded when contestants were actually on stage or for behind-the-scenes filming. David’s comments about the contestants were picked up by microphones used to capture conversations between the judges and were reportedly still on to get footage for Britain’s Got Talent or other spin-off shows, which frequently have included comments made by judges between auditions.

Because of these recordings, David is suing FremantleMedia for an unlawful data protection breach and asking for his data to be deleted, as well as seeking damages for lost earnings and “psychiatric harm and loss of control of his private information.” Sources have claimed as of April 2018, Britain’s Got Talent announced all cameras “would now be rolling 24/7”.

So, what has David Walliams actually said about his mental health?

In the court documents, David’s legal team have included comments from his psychiatrist Dr Mark Collins who said the entire saga has a a “profound” effect on David’s mental health. He claims David has been prescribed higher doses of medication, which he was already taking for depression, anxiety and sleep. Allegedly, David has had “uncontrollable negative thoughts” and has experienced “constant concern that any unguarded comments could be used against him, he has lost the ability to be spontaneous or edgy – in short, to be funny.”

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