Comedian and children’s author David Walliams has drawn widespread condemnation, including from the BBC, for making two Nazi salutes during a recording of panel show Would I Lie To You? earlier this week.
The Times first reported on Thursday that Walliams, also a former judge on Britain’s Got Talent, made the gestures during a segment in which another panellist joked about injuring their wrist while waving.
The audience at Pinewood Studios, where the show’s Christmas special was being filmed on Tuesday, was reportedly shocked when Walliams joined in to mimic the waves before holding his arm in a Nazi salute.
A journalist called Sebastian Topan contacted the BBC to describe the incident. “Some other panellist was talking when David Walliams started doing the Nazi salute,” Topan told BBC News. “I was shocked at what I had seen… [There were] patches of quietened gasps and awkward half-laughs and broken clapping.”
Gavin & Stacey star Rob Brydon, hosting the show, informed Walliams the program would be broadcast before the 9 p.m. watershed. But as discussions continued, Walliams is said to have done the salute again and added a sexual gesture with his other hand. “The atmosphere was uncomfortable and weird,” Topan claimed.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Walliams’ team for comment.
A spokesperson for Banijay U.K., which owns the show’s production company Zeppotron, said that any attempt at humor 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,” they continued, “and we apologise to those who were at the recording for any offence caused.”
A BBC spokesperson also said: “The use of such an offensive gesture is completely unacceptable and we apologise to all at the recording for the offence caused.”
It isn’t the first time Walliams has come under fire for controversy. Well known in the U.K. for his team-up on Little Britain and Come Fly With Me with Matt Lucas (Bridesmaids, Alice in Wonderland), he departed ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent in 2022 when a recording of him insulting contestants on the show were made public.