On Thursday, the HarperCollins children’s Instagram account shared a post celebrating the new David Walliams book, Santa & Son. Accompanied by a festive image of hot chocolate and candy canes, it called the book “a Christmas caper” by the “No 1 king of comedy”.
On Friday, HarperCollins, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, announced that it would no longer be publishing any new titles by Walliams after reports about allegations of “inappropriate” behaviour towards young women.
Questions have been raised about when HarperCollins was made aware of the allegations and how it plans to deal with the author’s extensive back catalogue.
HarperCollins carried out an internal inquiry into Walliams after a junior employee made a complaint against him, according to the Telegraph. After the inquiry ended in 2024, measures were reportedly taken to limit contact between Walliams and some employees, and staff were told to attend meetings in pairs and avoid visiting his home.
One woman who raised concerns is said to have left the company after receiving a five-figure settlement.
Related articles:
The publisher did not respond to a request for comment about its decision to continue promoting Walliams and his books after the investigation.
A spokesperson for Walliams said: “David has never been informed of any allegations raised against him by HarperCollins. He was not party to any investigation or given any opportunity to answer questions. David strongly denies he has behaved inappropriately and is taking legal advice.”
To many in publishing, last week’s news did not come as a surprise. One HarperCollins author posted online: “I’ve been waiting for my phone to ping with the news for years… It has been referred to over and over again as an ‘open secret’.”
Walliams has long been a jewel in the HarperCollins crown. But the publisher has been accused – including in a 2023 podcast by Tortoise Media, the owner of The Observer, about the contents of his children's books – of failing to engage properly with criticism of the author.
This weekend, one former HarperCollins editor, who left before the first investigation into Walliams is believed to have begun, said that she would not have felt comfortable raising concerns about the behaviour of such a high-profile and lucrative author as Walliams, in case it was used against her, as she felt the publisher might have sought to protect the brand and the author rather than the employee.
“It felt like HR was there to protect the company rather than the staff,” she said. She referenced the involvement of “people” staff in the corporate culture of the company.
In a statement to The Observer with regard to the decision to drop Walliams, a HarperCollins spokesperson said: “HarperCollins takes employee wellbeing extremely seriously and has processes in place for reporting and investigating concerns. To respect the privacy of individuals, we do not comment on internal matters.”
‘I’ve been waiting for my phone to ring with the news for years. It has been referred to as an “open secret”’
HarperCollins author
In 2024, the UK turnover of HarperCollins turnover was more than £270m, with an operating profit of £25m. According to his own website, Walliams has sold at least 60m copies of his books. The Bookseller says Walliams’s sales total about £153m since 2008. In 2018, he made up 44% of all sales of HarperCollins children’s titles, although The Bookseller has reported that sales of his books fell by about 60% over the summer this year. In October, HarperCollins UK’s then chief executive, Charlie Redmayne, who is thanked in many of Walliams’s books, resigned and was replaced by Kate Elton, who has worked in adult fiction and nonfiction at the company since 2011. The Times has reported that this was unrelated to Walliams.
The comedian has always cut an awkward figure as a children’s author. Many of the behaviours he has been criticised for since the 00s – such as allegations of stereotyping and casual racism in Little Britain – are evident in his children’s books, as reported by Tortoise in 2023. At the time, several senior figures in publishing said they did not allow their children to read the books, and questioned the editorial process by which they were allowed to be published.
In 2021, a campaign by the podcaster Georgie Ma about the “casual racism” in the story Brian Wong, Who Was Never, Ever Wrong gained widespread attention. It was eventually pulled from publication.
When asked this weekend whether she felt that HarperCollins had taken complaints about Walliams seriously, Ma said: “Absolutely not… he’s gone on to sell books after books after books. I really wish they could have taken more accountability.”Walliams left his position as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent in 2022 after the Guardian leaked a transcript of him making crude and explicit comments about a contestant, and was the host of the Presidents’ Club Charity dinner when the Financial Times reported the widespread sexual harassment of women working at the event. No such claims were made about Walliams.
HarperCollins did not respond to specific points Tortoise put to it in 2023 about Walliams’s behaviour off the page, or the allegations of racism and stereotyping within his books, but said: “David Walliams is one of Britain’s best-loved authors.” At the time, the publisher appeared more concerned with celebrating its star author. That no longer seems to be the case.