By Agence France-Presse: Allegations mushroomed Wednesday towards a star BBC presenter accused of paying a young person for sexually express footage, as three extra folks got here ahead with complaints.
Fellow BBC star Jeremy Vine urged the presenter to publicly establish himself to forestall additional reputational injury to the broadcaster and false accusations towards others.
“I know his survival instinct has kicked in… but my God look at the damage to the BBC, look at the damage to his friends, to those falsely accused –- and the longer he leaves it the worse it will be for him,” the radio present host stated Wednesday on a tv present he hosts for an additional channel.y
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Former BBC North America editor Jon Sopel, in the meantime, described the star on the centre of the scandal as “extremely angry” over how the story had unfolded.
“It is fair to say that the presenter at the heart of this is also extremely angry over a lot of The Sun coverage and is convinced they’re trying to dig and find new dirt,” Sopel stated on LBC Radio’s The News Agents podcast.
The BBC itself reported on Tuesday that one other particular person of their 20s had come ahead to say they acquired “threatening messages from the unnamed high-profile figure”.
Hours later, The Sun every day — which broke the unique story final Friday — alleged he additionally broke Covid lockdown guidelines to fulfill one other younger particular person he met on a courting web site.
‘Creepy’ messages
The tabloid stated in a report Wednesday it had seen messages that “suggest that as well as visiting the 23-year-old’s home the star sent cash and asked for a picture”.
The alleged pandemic breach has a selected resonance within the UK because the BBC was on the time reporting on the nation’s third lockdown and the way it was being enforced.
Covid rule breaking in Downing Street additionally led to the long-running “Partygate” scandal that introduced down former British prime minister Boris Johnson.
Social media has been awash with hypothesis concerning the identification of the person, however the BBC has defended its determination to not title him.
A fourth particular person additionally advised The Sun the star despatched “creepy” messages containing love hearts and kisses on Instagram after they had been aged 17.
The claims first emerged in an article revealed Friday in The Sun during which the alleged sufferer’s household stated the presenter had paid a complete of 35,000 euros (45,000 US {dollars}) for the photographs.
The household stated their baby had used the cash to gas a crack cocaine dependancy, prompting attorneys appearing for the younger particular person to disclaim the claims.
The scandal has now been frontpage information and the lead story on radio and tv information bulletins for six successive days.
It comes after the BBC — whose model is constructed on public belief — was rocked in recent times by scandals which noticed a few of their largest names revealed as serial intercourse offenders.
The BBC has stated London’s Metropolitan Police requested them to pause their very own inside investigation whereas the power appears to be like on the allegations.
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