A “household name” BBC presenter accused of paying a youngster for specific photographs is going through recent allegations that he stripped to his underpants throughout a video name with the youth.
The younger particular person’s mom stated she was “shocked” after her offspring confirmed her a screenshot of the video chat, wherein the unnamed star was sitting in his boxer shorts on a settee at his house.
She advised The Sun that the person seemed to be “leaning forward, getting ready for my child to perform for him.”
“My child told me, ‘I have shown things’ and this was a picture from some kind of video call,” she added.
The newspaper didn’t say when the alleged incident occurred.
The mom additionally alleged that earlier this 12 months she was shocked after overhearing the presenter “on the phone saying to my child: ‘I told you not to f***ing ring me’.”
It comes after The Sun beforehand claimed that the well-known presenter had paid a complete of greater than £35,000 to the youth in return for “sexual pictures”.
The man is alleged to have first requested pictures when {the teenager} was 17 again in 2020, and has made a collection of funds since then.
No one concerned has been named, however The Sun stated the presenter has not been suspended and is assumed to nonetheless being paid his six-figure wage in full.
It stated the household made a grievance on 19 May however got here ahead to the media after turning into annoyed that the person was nonetheless on air a month later.
The mom stated her offspring advised her that they had additionally acquired a cost of £1,000 in June over PayPal which urged that the “BBC hadn’t spoken to this man” within the weeks after the preliminary grievance.
Going public ‘the one option to cease it’
The presenter is now off-air and the BBC has reportedly launched an investigation, though the company has not confirmed this.
The youth, who’s now aged 20, used the cash to fund a crack cocaine behavior which “destroyed” their life, the mom has additionally claimed.
She advised the newspaper: “If it goes on then my child is going to wind up dead. Putting this out to the public is the only way to stop it.”
The claims have prompted frenzied hypothesis on social media over the identification of the presenter and led to a string of BBC stars, together with Jeremy Vine and Gary Lineker, to public communicate out to disclaim they’re the thriller determine.
‘Right techniques and processes should be in place’
Dame Caroline Dinenage, senior Conservative MP and chair of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, stated she was involved that the company had taken “a very long time” to research the claims.
“It’s vital that TV companies have in place the right systems and processes to ensure their stars, who have disproportionate power and influence over the lives and careers of others, don’t abuse it,” she stated.
“Clearly the BBC now has some questions to answer. There is pressure on their HR department to investigate these latest claims quickly and explain what has happened since this story first came to light back in May.”
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On BBC’s News at Ten programme on Saturday, the broadcaster’s particular correspondent Lucy Manning described the scenario as “very serious for the BBC” and warned it may “severely dent the BBC’s reputation”.
She added: “The understanding is the presenter isn’t due on air in the near future, but we haven’t been told – and we have asked…. whether there has or hasn’t been a formal suspension.
“The BBC might want to reply if the investigation ought to have occurred sooner, if it ought to have been extra thorough, and if it is truthful to different presenters, unconnected to this, that their names at the moment are kind of within the headlines.”
‘We treat any allegations very seriously’
A BBC spokesperson said: “We deal with any allegations very severely and we now have processes in place to proactively cope with them.
“As part of that, if we receive information that requires further investigation or examination we will take steps to do this. That includes actively attempting to speak to those who have contacted us in order to seek further detail and understanding of the situation.”
They added: “If we get no reply to our attempts or receive no further contact that can limit our ability to progress things but it does not mean our enquiries stop.
“If, at any level, new data involves gentle or is supplied – together with by way of newspapers – this can be acted upon appropriately, consistent with inner processes.”
Content Source: information.sky.com