LONDON: The BBC said on Sunday that it has suspended a leading presenter who is alleged to have paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos. As senior British politicians urged a rapid investigation, the broadcaster said it was working to establish the facts of “a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances”. The UK’s publicly funded national broadcaster was scrambling to head off a worsening crisis after Sun newspaper reported allegations that the male presenter gave a youth 35,000 ($45,000) starting in 2020 when the young person was 17.
Neither the star nor the youth was identified. Amid speculation on social media about the identity of the presenter, several of BBC’s best-known stars spoke up to say it wasn’t them. Though the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16, it’s a crime to make or possess indecent images of anyone under 18.
Sun said the young person’s mother had complained to BBC in May but that the presenter had remained on the air. BBC said in a statement on Sunday that it “first became aware of a complaint in May,” but that “new allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature.” The broadcaster said “BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations.” It said the corporation had also been in touch with “external authorities”, but did not specify whether that was the police. Culture secretary Lucy Frazer held crisis talks with BBC’s director-general about what she called “deeply concerning” allegations. She said director general Tim Davie had assured her BBC was “investigating swiftly and sensitively.”
Neither the star nor the youth was identified. Amid speculation on social media about the identity of the presenter, several of BBC’s best-known stars spoke up to say it wasn’t them. Though the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16, it’s a crime to make or possess indecent images of anyone under 18.
Sun said the young person’s mother had complained to BBC in May but that the presenter had remained on the air. BBC said in a statement on Sunday that it “first became aware of a complaint in May,” but that “new allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature.” The broadcaster said “BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations.” It said the corporation had also been in touch with “external authorities”, but did not specify whether that was the police. Culture secretary Lucy Frazer held crisis talks with BBC’s director-general about what she called “deeply concerning” allegations. She said director general Tim Davie had assured her BBC was “investigating swiftly and sensitively.”