I’m pretty sure most autistic people manage to go through life without sexually harassing others all the time, but nonetheless, Gregg Wallace is expected to tell investigators that his sexually inappropriate behaviour over the years could be linked to undiagnosed autism.
As per the Telegraph, 60-year-old Wallace will raise the possibility he has autism with Lewis Silkin, the London law firm hired to investigate him by production company Banijay. Friends of Wallace have said they were also planning to tell the lawyers the same thing in support of his case.
One source said: “We think Gregg has an undiagnosed condition, probably autism. If you look at symptoms of autism, he seems to fit those. The symptoms fit him. He tells inappropriate jokes, but it’s never been malicious. He just doesn’t understand that sometimes the jokes he tells just aren’t funny.”
Another friend said: “It’s clear to me he probably has to work with a level of neurodiversity.”
Another source said: “Many people close to him have over the years suggested he exhibits characteristics associated with autism spectrum disorder.”
It’s worth noting that Wallace has a four-year-old son who has been diagnosed with autism, and to be fair, studies show that a majority of autism cases are linked to inherited genes and run in families. I guess he’ll also use his undiagnosed autism to explain his ‘handful of middle-class women of a certain age’ comment that bit him in the a*** the other week?
Dr Fiona Gullon-Scott, an autism expert and senior lecturer in clinical psychology at Newcastle University, says it’s entirely possible that Wallace’s behaviour is down to autism.
Dr Fiona says: “There are many undiagnosed autistic adults, particularly middle-aged and older, because our understanding of autism was far more limited 30 to 40 years ago than it is now. Those adults have often experienced a lifetime of being misunderstood, often disliked, sometimes misdiagnosed with other conditions.
“As a clinician and psychologist, when I see someone behave in a way that makes others comment ‘Why would anyone do/say that?’ I often find myself wondering whether – rather than the assumption of rudeness or intent or malice – this may be a person with an undiagnosed difference.”
Well, again, even if Gregg Wallace does have undiagnosed autism, I’m not sure how valid it is to use it as an excuse for sexual misconduct.
Inappropriate jokes or offensive comments? Fair enough. But feeling up your ghostwriter or thrusting your crotch into a BBC worker’s face as she fixes your trousers? Has to be pretty annoying and disrespectful for all the autists out there that Gregg Wallace could use this as an excuse for that sort of behaviour. Still, got to admire the cynicism of his lawyers who probably advised him to run with this tactic.
Anyway, don’t expect Gregg Wallace back on Masterchef or the BBC anytime soon, no matter how this plays out. Maybe he’ll wind up on GB News complaining about being cancelled by the woke mob? Wouldn’t surprise us tbh.
For the time Gregg Wallace got absolutely rinsed for his ‘magnificently Alan Partridge’ Saturday routine, click HERE.
