The publishing industry has been complicit in shielding a high‑profile author for far too long, and the recent fallout proves we can’t keep treating rumours as private gossip. An author who works with schools said she’d been warned in 2015 that David Walliams was “not an appropriate booking” for young audiences, citing “real concerns” about his behaviour around female staff. Those whispers were never investigated publicly, and HarperCollins only acted after a Guardian‑ITV investigation forced them to drop his back catalogue. Walliams now claims he never abused power and that he is not a sexual predator, but his own admission that he “behaved thoughtlessly” and ignored power imbalances only confirms the structural problem: a famous man can exploit junior staff and still walk away with a clean public record. The fallout should force publishers to adopt transparent vetting, protect whistle‑blowers, and stop treating school‑booking decisions as PR tricks. If we keep allowing big names to slip through because they sell books, we betray the very readers – children and teachers – who deserve safe environments. It’s time the industry stops the culture of silence and starts a real conversation about accountability.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c95y15830k77o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss