Now 65 years old, he’s said to be worth around £30million, with a primetime chat show on ITV, a mansion in London, holiday home in Florida and unparalleled collection of comic books for which he maintains a juvenile passion.
asserted
he → say → passion
Or, as his friend Russell Brand put it with characteristic vulgarity in his 2010 memoir My Booky Wook 2: ‘Jonathan Ross for 20 years straddled British television and rode it like a horse prostitute.’
asserted
Ross → put → prostitute
Now that Brand has been convicted of rape and sexual assaults, that joke isn’t really funny any more.
asserted
joke → convict → rape
Indeed this week Ross has been at pains to dissociate himself from both Brand, 51, and David Walliams, 55, another friend of his who has been accused of grooming and sexually assaulting a teenage fan, which Walliams denies.
asserted
Walliams → dissociate → which
Walliams has not been charged with any criminal offences and is not the subject of any civil claims, but the Metropolitan Police last night announced it has launched an investigation into separate alleged serious sexual offences by him.
uncertain
it → charge → him
Russell Brand said in his 2010 memoir My Booky Wook 2: ‘Jonathan Ross for 20 years straddled British television and rode it like a horse prostitute’
Ross has been at pains to dissociate himself from David Walliams, 55, a friend of his who has been accused of grooming and sexually assaulting a teenage fan, which Walliams denies
Given the circumstances, you’d expect anyone to back away from an association with either man, and Ross is trying to do so with vigour.
One particular clip is causing furrows in the Ross brow.
asserted
clip → say → brow
Broadcast this week as part of ITV’s expose of Walliams, it dates from the British Comedy Awards in 2004.
asserted
it → Broadcast → 2004
Ross tells the audience: ‘The Comedy Awards is 15 years old – 15 years old!
asserted
Awards → tell → audience
And like most 15-year-olds, it’s drunk, it’s unpredictable and it’s probably going home with David Walliams.’
asserted
it → ’ → Walliams
The camera picks out Walliams in the audience, making a crude V-sign and roaring with laughter.
asserted
camera → pick → laughter
The joke appears to show that Ross may have been aware that Walliams was attracted to teenagers a full 22 years before the scandal came to light.
uncertain
scandal → appear → light
This Ross denies.
asserted
Ross → deny → ?
In a statement, he said: ‘I recognise how deeply shocking it is to revisit footage of a joke delivered by me at the Comedy Awards in 2004, in which I make light of the notion of Walliams going home with a 15-year-old.
asserted
Walliams → say → old
‘This joke was submitted to me by the Comedy Awards script writing team and I believed that the punchline was a reference to the fact he had publicly dated younger women, exaggerated for comic effect.
asserted
he → submit → effect
A clip from ITV’s expose of Walliams shows Ross appearing to refer to the comedian's alleged predatory behaviour at the 2004 Comedy Awards as it turned 15
Walliams was ‘linked’ with Lisa Snowdon in 2004, who was one year younger than him and said they were only his friends and not romantically involved
asserted
they → show → him
‘It is also a tasteless joke that I would not dream of making today about anyone, but that is beside the point.
asserted
that → dream → point
‘Had I had any reason to suspect that it might be referring to actual events, I would not only have refused to use it, but I would not have felt comfortable continuing a personal or professional relationship with him.
uncertain
I → have → him
‘I also like to think that I would have acted upon that knowledge.
asserted
I → like → knowledge
But there are a number of problems with this account, the first of which is simple timing.
asserted
first → be → which
In 2004, when the Comedy Awards went out, David Walliams was very much at the beginning of his fame.
asserted
Walliams → go → fame
Little Britain, the sketch show which made his name, was first transmitted in 2003.
asserted
which → make → 2003
A trawl through newspaper cuttings of the time shows that Walliams was ‘linked’ with only two women in 2004: Lisa Snowdon, one year younger than him, and Abi Titmuss, five years younger than him.
asserted
Walliams → show → him
Both have said they were, in reality, only his friends and not romantically involved.
asserted
they → say → reality
In a picture shared in the documentary, Ross can be seen sitting around a table with Walliams in the background putting his arm around the shoulder of 18-year-old Lilly Creightmore
Brand appeared on the BBC’s Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in May 2006 and they were both on Channel 4’s Big Fat Quiz of the Year (pictured) in 2007
His first named girlfriend in the press was Emily Scott, an Australian model 12 years his junior – but this was in 2006, long after that joke was made and broadcast by Jonathan Ross.
It seems to be incorrect to then say that he was famous for having ‘publicly dated younger women’ in 2004.
uncertain
he → share → 2004
Indeed, most of the public might have assumed at that point that he was gay, due to Walliams’ camp manner and how he played up to homosexual stereotypes.
uncertain
he → assume → stereotypes
Any notion that Walliams was attracted to teenage girls can only have come from whoever wrote that joke, and from something they had heard that was not public knowledge.
asserted
that → attract → something
A well-placed source told me this week: ‘Jonathan will have written the joke.
asserted
Jonathan → place → joke
He was very proud of the Comedy Awards scripts and, as far as we were all concerned, he wrote them.’
asserted
he → concern → them
Whoever wrote the joke, it would appear that Ross might have had cause to believe that Walliams was attracted to women who were not much more than girls.
uncertain
who → write → girls
In a photograph shared in the documentary, Ross can be seen sitting around a table at a film quiz with a crew of mates including his wife, Jane, and comedian Ricky Gervais.
asserted
Ross → share → wife
In the image, David Walliams is stood up from the table and has his arm around the shoulder of the woman who was with him at the event: model Lilly Creightmore.
asserted
who → stand → event
Ross and Brand’s careers nearly imploded after they left shocking voicemails about Brand’s relationship with actor Andrew Sachs’s 23-year-old granddaughter Georgina Baillie in 2008
Creightmore says that the picture was taken in November 2003, a year before the Comedy Awards.
asserted
picture → implode → Awards
Creightmore also told the Guardian that Walliams had approached her after spotting her in an advert for Agent Provocateur underwear and felt he had tried to ‘coerce’ her into sleeping with him.
asserted
he → tell → him
She did not have sex with him, but believed his behaviour was inappropriate and that Walliams had abused his power.
asserted
Walliams → have → power
As to the question of what Ross might have known about Walliams or Brand, and when, and the nature of his friendship with them, this is uncertain.
uncertain
this → know → them
He said: ‘I am as horrified by the revelations about David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand as the rest of the nation.
asserted
I → say → nation
‘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.
asserted
I → be → conduct
My thoughts are with the many, many women who have bravely come forward.’
asserted
who → come → women
We have to take Ross’s word for being horrified – who would not be?
asserted
who → have → word
Russell Brand was convicted last week of anally raping a fan who had travelled to his home in 2009.
asserted
who → convict → 2009
…and 54 more, not listed.
The Aporia
