David Walliams reportedly gave Nazi salutes while recording BBC panel show Would I Lie To You?
The 53-year-old, who left Britain’s Got Talent in 2022 after making comments about the ITV show’s contestants, is reported to have made the gesture twice during the filming of the show’s Christmas special on Tuesday.
He is reported to have made the salutes while his teammate on the show, Call The Midwife’s Helen George, was telling a story about her experience on Strictly Come Dancing, in which she said she sprained her wrist from “waving too much during the Strictly tour”.
She was told by the opposing team, who she was trying to convince that her story was true, that her wave was “too little”, which is said to have led to Walliams joining in with a more vigorous wave which ended in a Nazi salute.
Walliams, whose real name is David Edward Williams, was reportedly told off for the gesture by host Rob Brydon, before then performing another salute with a sexual connotation after some light-hearted lewd jokes about George’s time on Strictly.
The Times, who first reported the story, said team captain Lee Mack looked distinctly unimpressed by the incident.
One person, who the newspaper says was a part of the audience during the show’s filming, posted on X: “I didn’t have David Walliams doing a Nazi salute at the Would I Lie To You? Christmas taping on my 2025 bingo card.”
It is understood that footage of the incident will not be broadcast.
Walliams left Britain’s Got Talent after he was caught making “disrespectful comments” during breaks in filming about auditioning contestants in January 2020 at the London Palladium.
Fremantle, which produces the ITV talent show, apologised after the comments were leaked and reached an “amicable resolution” with Walliams after he sued the company for misuse of private information and breaching data law.
A spokesperson for Banijay UK, which owns Would I Lie To You? production company Zeppotron, said: “Any attempt at humour regarding this deeply offensive gesture, whether broadcast or not, is completely unacceptable in any context.
“It was immediately acknowledged during the recording that this segment would not be broadcast under any circumstances and we apologise to those who were at the recording for any offence caused.”
A BBC spokesman added: “The use of such an offensive gesture is completely unacceptable and we apologise to all at the recording for the offence caused.”
Representatives for Walliams have been contacted for comment.
