Celebrities

Piers Morgan calls on Simon Cowell to 'get old band back together’ after David Walliams’ BGT 'exit'

Piers Morgan calls on Simon Cowell to 'get old band back together’ after David Walliams’ BGT 'exit'

Related video: Piers Morgan attacks 'nasty' David Walliams

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Outspoken journalist and broadcaster Piers Morgan hasn’t held back in terms of his dislike towards David Walliams, and so when reports surfaced this week that the comedian may well be quitting as a Britain’s Got Talent judge, he asked head judge Simon Cowell if he could make a comeback.

Walliams, who is best known for the sketch show Little Britain (for which he later had to apologise for blackface) and his children’s books (one of which had to have a story containing “harmful stereotypes” about Chinese people removed) has apparently left the ITV talent show after 10 years.

A source told The Sun: “He hasn’t taken the decision lightly, but it just feels like time to move on.”

It comes after the 51-year-old faced widespread criticism for remarks reportedly made during auditions in January 2020 at the London Palladium, with The Guardian claiming earlier this month that the desk microphones picked up Walliams branding one contestant – a pensioner – a “c***” three times.

Another comment alleged to have been made by Walliams about a female auditionee was that she was like “the slightly boring girl you meet in the pub that thinks you want to f*** them, but you don’t”.

Walliams went on to apologise for the remarks, telling The Independent: “I would like to apologise to the people I made disrespectful comments about during breaks in filming for Britain’s Got Talent in 2020.

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“These were private conversations and – like most conversations with friends – were never intended to be shared. Nevertheless, I am sorry.”

Enter Piers Morgan, who shared The Sun’s report and added: “Time to get the old band back together, Simon Cowell?”

The tweet came with a picture of him behind the famous blue desk complete with the red buzzers, sat next to TV personality Amanda Holden and Cowell.

The Syco founder has not responded to the post.

And it isn’t the first time Morgan has made his feelings known about Walliams.

In January 2020 – so the same month the Come Fly With Me star is alleged to have made the remarks on BGT – Morgan told The Mirror: “I’m not going [to the National Television Awards] this year. There’s no point when the same people win the same awards every year.

“I’d rather stay at home and watch Groundhog Day – and the host David Walliams makes my skin crawl.”

Later that same year, Morgan went back to the Mirror (which he used to edit) and revealed he was approached to return to Britain’s Got Talent, but he “couldn’t work with Walliams”.

“I think he is a duplicitous, treacherous piece of work. He is one of those people who says one thing to your face and then sticks it to you behind your back.

“If he was sitting there I wouldn’t be interested. But if he wasn’t sitting there, who knows?

“I will come back to BGT if the money is right and if they guarantee Walliams gets fired. I might even make it a contractual clause that I get to be the one who tells him he is fired,” he said.

More recently, when The Guardian reported Walliams’ alleged comments from the January 2020 recording earlier this month, Morgan tweeted: “Tip of the iceberg. Walliams is one of the nastiest frauds in TV.”

Ouch.

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