A crisis at the BBC over a senior staff member’s behavior deepened on Tuesday with a report that a second person had come forward with allegations that the unnamed male staff member had sent angry and abusive messages to the person via a dating app.
The BBC reported that the youngster, who was not identified, felt threatened by “abusive, expletive-filled messages”, which followed the staff member’s failed attempts to meet this person and the person’s subsequent suggestion that he possibly be placed in the to be called public.
The same member of staff was accused of paying tens of thousands of pounds to another young person in exchange for sexually explicit photos. The BBC said it had suspended its investigation into those allegations at the request of the Metropolitan Police, who were also investigating the matter.
With the accusations piling up, but with many questions still unanswered, the BBC seemed to be under siege. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on his way to a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, said reports of payments made by the staff member were “shocking and worrying” and called for a swift, vigorous investigation.
The BBC’s director-general Tim Davie was also under increasing pressure to explain why the company had waited seven weeks after the first complaint was made in May about the broadcaster’s conduct before confronting him or taking any other action. On Sunday, the BBC said it had suspended the employee and called the police.
Mr Davie said the initial allegations, made by the teenager’s mother who allegedly had been paid for explicit photos, were taken very seriously by the BBC, although it was questionable whether any criminal conduct had been committed.
But the complaints were not passed on to him or other top BBC executives until late last week, he said, when they were about to be reported by a London tabloid, The Sun. He said he had not spoken to the employee yet.
The new allegation was reported by the BBC’s own reporters on Tuesday afternoon. They said they reviewed the messages on the person’s phone and verified they came from a member of staff’s phone. The BBC said it had been unable to reach the employee or his lawyer for comment.
Mr Davie acknowledged that the lurid allegations had tarnished the reputation of Britain’s public service broadcaster, which has repeatedly found itself in the political crosshairs over the actions and statements of its on-air personalities.
“These are clearly detrimental to the BBC,” said Mr. Davie in an interview with BBC Radio 4. “It’s not a good situation.”
The BBC described the suspended staff member as the equivalent of a news anchor, news show host or other on-air personality. While the BBC has not revealed the person’s identity, that hasn’t stopped rampant speculation online, forcing other BBC figures to take to social media to deny being the target of the allegations.
One of the questions swirling around the BBC is the reliability of The Sun’s report that the staff member paid the teen more than £35,000, or nearly $45,000, for explicit images over a multi-year period beginning when the person was 17. used to be.
Under UK law the age of consent is 16, but it is a crime to create, share or possess indecent images of anyone under 18.
On Monday, the BBC reported that a lawyer for the teen said in a letter to the broadcaster that the allegations in The Sun were “nonsense”, suggesting there was a rift between the teen and the teen’s parents.
The teen’s lawyer said “nothing improper or unlawful has occurred between our client and the BBC personality,” the broadcaster said. Reporters have not identified the lawyer and Mr Davie said on Tuesday he did not know whether the member of staff paid the young person’s legal fees.
The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, stands by its story, accusing the BBC of suggesting it was the fault of the teen’s parents for not understanding how long the process of handling complaints could be.
“Their complaint was not followed up by the BBC,” a spokeswoman for The Sun said Monday. “We have seen evidence that supports their concerns. It is now up to the BBC to investigate properly.”
