Actor accuses David Walliams of 'sexually humiliating' him in Comic Relief sketch

Actor Jeremy Edwards claimed he was misled about what the sketch would involve and was only told his trousers would be pulled down

David Walliams pulled the actor’s pants down on stage. File picture: PA

Actor Jeremy Edwards has said he was “sexually humiliated” after David Walliams pulled his pants down and exposed his penis during a Comic Relief sketch in 2006.

Edwards, best known for his roles in Hollyoaks, Holby City and Millie Inbetween, said he was a last-minute replacement for a Little Britain sketch alongside Walliams and comedian David Baddiel at the Hammersmith Apollo in London.

In the sketch, Walliams performed as the character Des Kay, a predatory, gay, former children’s entertainer and TV presenter, who then plays a game of “hide the sausage” before lunging at Edwards and pulling down his jeans and underwear, leaving him partially naked in front of a crowd of 3,500 people.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Edwards, 55, claimed he was misled about what the sketch would involve and was only told his trousers would be pulled down.

“It simply was abuse. I did not agree to it. You just can’t do that to people. Having your trousers pulled down and you’re stood there in your boxer shorts is one thing. Having your penis exposed is something very different,” he said.

“I didn’t know that was going to happen. I’m angry because why did they think that would be OK with me? If they had said to me, ‘By the way they are going to expose you in front of everybody would you agree?’ Well, the answer is no. What we are talking about here is consent and I didn’t consent to it.”

The sketch ended up featuring as a highlight in the Comic Relief Does Little Britain Live DVD, which was released in 2007 and is still available to purchase on the internet.

Edwards added: “It’s all on video — bang to rights. If I had known I was going to have my genitals exposed in front of all those people then put on a DVD which has sold millions of copies and then for it for now to be on the internet for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t have done it for a million years.”

Edwards said that the incident and footage had “haunted me for years” and claimed it was not an accident after seeing footage of Walliams performing a similar sketch with other people.

Walliams has previously said the incident was a mistake.

Speaking to The Sun in 2011, he said: “I played it with Holby City actor Jeremy Edwards and pulled down his trousers. His pants came down at the same time, which was a mistake.

“It’s a very easy mistake to make. But I did expose him to thousands of people at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. I did feel bad about it afterwards. But not that bad.”

However, Edwards said he was “duped and felt like a mug”.

Walliams, a best-selling author and former Britain’s Got Talent judge, 55, was named as part of an alleged sexual misconduct investigation by The Guardian and ITV News on Tuesday.

One woman described her alleged encounter with Walliams when she was 15 as “sexual assault”, while multiple women accused him of “grooming” them when they were teenagers. Walliams denies any wrongdoing.

On Friday, the Metropolitan Police said it had received a number of non-recent “serious” sex offence allegations against him “in recent days”.

The Press Association has contacted Comic Relief for comment.