David William ‘lost the ability to be funny’ after Britain’s Got Talent axe
Last month it was revealed that David William is suing his former bosses at Britain Got Talent
David William has reportedly been experiencing "suicidal thoughts" and "lost an important part of his personal and professional identity" since being dropped from Britain’s Got Talent.
The 52-year-old comedian left the ITV show in November 2021, two weeks after he used offensive language towards an elderly contestant during a break in filming.
After leaving his £1.5million-a-year role as a judge, David has accused London Based Fremantle of an unlawful data protection breach.
According to High Court court papers obtained by The Sun, David’s lawyers claimed in a 21-page-document: “The Claimant (Walliams) now understands that, unknown to him at the time, his microphone was kept on and recording throughout the whole filming day, including breaks, during his whole tenure as a judge on the show.”
He alleged Fremantle has “produced and retained transcripts of the audio recordings of everything he said during that time, including the private information that had no relevance to production of the show.”
His lawyers added that David was "extremely upset" as many of his conversations having highly sensitive personal matters had been recorded without his consent.
Because of this breach he “has lost the ability to be spontaneous or edgy — in short, to be funny” as he is constantly anxious that any of his unguarded comments could be used against him.
“Furthermore, the Defendant’s breaches have affected the Claimant’s ability to perform,” stated the lawyers in the documents. “His inability to perform in this, his signature manner, has caused him further acute distress, because he has lost an important part of his personal and professional identity.”
