David Walliams accused of racism after dressing up as Kim Jong-un
How is this stuff still happening?
David Walliams has found himself at the centre of a race row after he dressed up as Kim Jong-un for Halloween last night.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge went all out to match the North Korean dictator’s famously rigid dress sense and hairline.
But some of his fans are furious and have accused him of being ‘racist’ and using ‘yellow face’ with his costume.
Taken at Jonathan Ross’ annual Halloween bash in north London, Walliams can be seen with prosthetics over his eyelids.
The 46-year-old, who also posed for pics alongside comedians Alan Carr and John Bishop, shared the photo of his outfit with his 1.97million Twitter followers (and put it on Instagram for good measure).
He simply captioned it: “Happy Halloween from Kim Jong-un.”
Instantly, there was a backlash from his followers and fans.
Mike Brooks said: “Because racism is so funny.”
Another commenter wrote: “Oh, cool, yellowface. Great to see a children’s author indulging in a little BLATANT RACISM.”
Some fans even vowed to boycott his popular children’s books.
Commenter Wei Ming Kam said: “And this is why I’m never buying any of his books. David Walliams was and still is a racist.”
Someone else asked: “How long is David Walliams going to be openly racist for and keep a career?”
Walliams and his comedy partner Matt Lucas frequently relied on racial humour for their BBC show Little Britain.
But reflecting on his early career, Lucas revealed he’s changed his opinion on how he uses race in comedy.
He told the Big Issue last month: “We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I’d do now. Society has moved on a lot since then and my own views have evolved. Now I think it’s lazy for white people to get a laugh just by playing black characters.”
ShortList has reached out to Walliams’ reps for comment.
(Images: Rex/Twitter)