Piers Morgan reignites David Walliams feud: 'When was he ever funny?'

Piers Morgan has reignited his long-running feud with David Walliams by claiming that the comedian "never had the ability to be funny".

The comment was sparked by a High Court writ from Walliams' lawyers against Britain's Got Talent (BGT) makers Fremantle Media, in which the TV star is said to claim that he has "lost the ability to be funny" since being dropped from the show.

But TalkTV host Morgan, who served as a judge on the ITV show before Walliams joined, was unsympathetic as he claimed Little Britain star Walliams had never been funny anyway.

Tweeting the front page of Monday's Sun, which splashed on the story of Walliams' court claims, Morgan wrote: "David Walliams claims in legal documents that he’s ‘lost the ability to be funny’ since being axed from @BGT for abusing contestants. When did he ever have that ability?"

In November 2022, The Guardian had published a leaked transcript of Walliams' comments to other judges Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden about some of the 2020 series' contestants in which he called one man auditioning "a c***" three times and said of a female contestant "she thinks you want to f*** her, but you don't".

Read more: David Walliams accuses BGT bosses of major privacy breach

Walliams, 52, had apologised for the comments, saying that they had been part of a private conversation – but he has since been axed from the panel.

According to The Sun, Walliams' High Court writ accuses production company Fremantle Media of an unlawful data protection breach and seeks up to £10m damages.

He is said to have battled suicidal thoughts and his lawyers say he was "extremely upset" as he claimed that everything he had said during the show's filming had been recorded, including private conversations with his co-stars about his divorce, sex life, mental health and the impact of his father's death.

The claim from his lawyers says the discovery has affected his ability to perform, explaining: "He feels vulnerable on entering a studio because he fears that what he says and does in that ­setting may be recorded and leaked without his consent.

"Because of the constant concern that any unguarded comments could be used against him, he has lost the ability to be spontaneous or edgy — in short, to be funny."

Morgan served as a BGT judge from 2007 to 2010 and he has previously made his dislike of Walliams clear, commenting when what he'd said about contestants first emerged: "Tip of the iceberg.. Walliams is one of the nastiest frauds in TV."

Walliams was a show judge from 2012 to 2022, but was dropped from the panel in December 2022 and was replaced for the 2023 season by former Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli.