Walliams is an actor, TV personality, and children’s book author. Best known for his sketch comedy series Little Britain, Walliams’s sense of humor as a TV writer, actor, and author has proved divisive among audiences and critics. Some feel that Walliams uses insensitive language to describe his characters, including sexist and racist stereotyping. Walliams’s novels have also drawn fire for what some critics and parents consider mean-spirited humor; for instance, characters are sometimes mocked or humiliated in outlandish scenes that are meant to be funny. For example, in Mr. Stink, the protagonist, a man who is unhoused, earns his nickname through his notoriously bad smell, which is a repeated point of humor throughout the story. The book also contains repeated derogatory words for people who are unhoused and unemployed, though these words are spoken by the villains of the book to demonstrate that they lack compassion.

Like classic children’s author Roald Dahl, author of Matilda, The BFG, and James and the Giant Peach, Walliams’s work often includes bullies and characters who stand up to them with inventive put-downs. However, Walliams’s critics feel that this

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