‘Sleeping with Johann’: Walliams faces sexual misconduct allegations after years hosting Malta galas

British comedian David Walliams, repeatedly engaged to host Malta’s taxpayer-funded film events under Film Commissioner Johann Grech, faces allegations of grooming, sexual assault and workplace harassment following a joint investigation by the Guardian and ITV News.

Walliams denies wrongdoing, including criminal activity, and rejects claims that he used his celebrity status to coerce or manipulate young women into sexual relationships.

The investigation, published on Tuesday, includes accounts from women who allege he groomed them as teenagers. One says he contacted her when she was 15 and began a sexual relationship with her at 17. Another alleges sexual assault when she was 15.

The reporting also details allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct connected to Britain’s Got Talent and publisher HarperCollins.

“I am not a sexual predator,” Walliams said. “I have not broken the law.”

He acknowledged behaving thoughtlessly in some casual relationships but denied abusing the power associated with his fame.

The allegations were published after his unsuccessful High Court attempt to block publication. That ruling concerned publication, rather than determining whether the allegations were true.

In Malta, Walliams became a recurring presence at events organised by Johann Grech, hosting the 2022 Malta Film Awards and returning for the Mediterrane Film Festival in 2023, 2024 and 2025 despite scandals about his stratospheric remuneration.

As The Shift reported, taxpayers paid him €120,000 for the 2022 presentation. The amount emerged following a prolonged Freedom of Information battle. His subsequent hosting fees remained undisclosed.

The Grech-Walliams association attracted further controversy during the 2025 festival, when Walliams joked that producers wanting to film a blockbuster in Malta had to “sleep with Johann”.

The Shift’s report on the joke described anger among Labour insiders over both the remark and the festival’s spending.

Their collaboration also extended beyond hosting.

A ten-minute promotional film featuring both men reportedly cost taxpayers approximately €500,000 in 2024. That figure concerned the production, rather than Walliams’ individual payment.

Questions about the arrangements persisted.

In July 2025, The Shift reported Grech’s sworn declaration that the Film Commission had signed no contract with Walliams or his representatives for the 2023 festival.

The declaration formed part of proceedings seeking disclosure of festival expenditure, including payments connected to the presenter.

By June 2026, Walliams had disappeared from the festival programme, soon after the first allegations of sexual abuse started doing the rounds. The Shift reported that Grech had not explained his removal after four consecutive years of appearances.

His departure left unresolved the public accounting for those engagements.

Grech is still to reply to a raft of FOIs by The Shift about hundreds of thousands in payments made to his friend.