Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway was involved in a heated on-air argument with one of the show’s guests after defending Jonathan Ross over his statement about David Walliams.
This week, allegations were published against ex-Little Britain star Walliams, including claims of sexual misconduct and grooming girls as young as 15. Walliams has denied the allegations. Ross was mentioned in the initial reports, having made a joke about Walliams “going home with 15-year-olds” at a awards ceremony back in 2004.
In a statement, the Jonathan Ross Show host said that he had not written the joke himself, and said he was “horrified” by the allegations about Walliams, as well as the crimes committed by comedian Russell Brand, who was this week sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison for rape and sexual assault.
Ross, who was famously embroiled in a scandal alongside Brand in 2008 when the pair made a lewd prank call to Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs that included sexual remarks about Sachs’s granddaughter, said: “There was a time in my life when I was on friendly terms with both men, and during that period I was genuinely unaware of their conduct.”
During an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Thursday (12 November), Scottish House of Lords member Ayesha Hazarika criticised Ross, stating: “I think Jonathan Ross is a really smart, clever, funny man. And the idea that he did not know... sorry, that's in my view, that's nonsense.
“He is part of a culture at that time. That lads’ mag sort of banter. There's so much footage of Jonathan Ross and others. There's footage going around of them on a panel show. Lily Allen is the only woman on that panel shoe, and they are joking about raping her.”
Garraway then stepped in to defend Ross, stating that she had “been on panel shows where people have made all sorts of jokes”, and it was “the culture of the time”.
“No one’s saying it’s OK. What I’m trying to say is that we’re lifting a lid, and so Jonathan, I think, has been rather brave about coming out and saying this.”
After Baroness Hazarika mentioned the “disgraceful” phone call to Sachs’s granddaughter, Garraway again spoke out in defence of Ross, whom she described as a “very good friend” who “has been very kind to me”.
“He wanted to make the point that [the joke about Walliams] was written for him,” she said. “I think the point he was trying to make is it was totally wrong.”
Garraway continued to clash with the guests over Ross’s statement, with Baroness Hazarika and the GMB host increasingly talking over each other.
Viewers criticised Garraway’s defence of the chat show giant, with one person writing that she was “so shameful saying Johnathan Ross is being BRAVE”.
“Why bother inviting Baroness Hazarika on to the show when all Kate Garraway did was talk over her? Baroness Hazarika is right in her observations,” another person wrote on social media.
“Kate Garraway. Hang your head in shame. That was completely not understanding his poor excuse of an apology. What was she thinking?” someone else commented.
“They use the ‘culture of the time’ over and over again, be it about racism, sexism, misogyny, able ablelism etc but its still happening The issue is the likes of Garroway or media defending this behaviour,” another person said.
Walliams issued his own statement in a letter addressed to investigators at The Guardian and ITV News who published the report into his alleged behaviour.
“Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with,” he said. “I realise I did not always take people’s feelings properly into account. That is something I regret. And whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did.”
He added: “I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”
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