David Walliams Was Paid €200,000 From Over €2 Million Budget For Malta Film Awards, Jason Azzopardi Claims
British comedian David Walliams was paid over €200,000 to host the Malta Film Awards, Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi has alleged.
Addressing Parliament this evening, Azzopardi asked Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo – who is responsible for the film sector – to confirm whether Walliams was paid over €200,000 and whether the entire awards night cost over €2 million.
Bartolo refused to answer, only stating the information will be tabled in another sitting.
He also accused the Nationalist Party of “hating” and “attacking” the film industry and stating that the last PN government had spent €1.1 million on the European Film Awards back in 2011, twice the set budget.
Money Heist Season 6. This is my question to Film Minister Bartolo who did not deny the €2 million price tag of the Film Awards & the €200K payment to the host. His reply: a sardonic smile. What a crook! @PNmalta pic.twitter.com/gQRcAMJ3x2
— Jason Azzopardi (@AzzopardiJason) February 7, 2022
A budget of €400,000 was originally allocated to the Malta Film Awards, a festival held to celebrate the history of the Maltese film industry.
However, it was tarnished by a boycott imposed by several film players, who decried the €400,000 as excessive given that €600,000 have been allocated to the entire annual budget for the national Screen Film Fund.
Film Commissioner Johann Grech has refused to confirm whether the budget ended up going beyond the original budget, only stating it will be “value for money” when questioned.
Do you think the Malta Film Awards were value for money?
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