Author says there were ‘real concerns’ about David Walliams within publishing industry

Author Chloe Combi says she heard concerns about David Walliams’s behaviour in publishing more than a decade ago. She says a senior publishing figure advised her in 2015 not to book him to speak in schools and to warn teachers, raising questions about how concerns were shared within the industry.

Combi says she never met Walliams and based her account on conversations with people in publishing, writing, television and celebrity circles. A joint investigation by the Guardian and ITV News reported allegations from several women, which Walliams denies; HarperCollins has said it will publish no new titles by him and has stopped publishing his back catalogue. Walliams says he is not a sexual predator, has not broken the law, and regrets that he sometimes failed to consider other people’s feelings.