David Walliams will see his ‘£1.5million Britain’s Got Talent salary cut back for show’s Christmas special’ as the judge is axed from future series after his ‘disrespectful’ comments about contestant came to light
David Walliams has been forced to take a pay cut for the Britain’s Got Talent Christmas special, bringing his fee in line with fellow judges Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon, it has been claimed.
The comedian has reportedly always been paid at least twice the women’s fee, and he is understood to be unhappy that he couldn’t negotiate more for tonight’s one-off, The Ultimate Magician.
But bosses at ITV and production company Thames wanted to ensure that all the judges’ salaries were in line.
Crude: David Walliams has been forced to take a pay cut for the Britain’s Got Talent Christmas special, bringing his fee in line with fellow judges Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon, it has been claimed
Controversial: The comedian has reportedly always been paid at least twice the women’s fee, and he is understood to be unhappy that he couldn’t negotiate more for tonight’s one-off, The Ultimate Magician
Tonight’s episode was recorded before vile comments Walliams made about contestants came to light.
He will not feature on future series after making what he admitted were ‘disrespectful’ asides during auditions.
One source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘David was told he couldn’t be paid what he wanted for the special. The bosses understandably wanted to pay everyone the same.
‘For years, Amanda and Alesha have been earning far less than David and have felt that to be extremely unfair.’
Two years ago, the two women demanded to be paid the same as their male co-stars.
It was then reported that Ms Holden made about £700,000 per series and Ms Dixon £450,000, compared to £1.5 million for Walliams and £2.5 million for Simon Cowell, who helped create the show but is not in tonight’s special.
Thames and Walliams’ representatives declined to comment.
Source: Read Full Article