British culture minister Lucy Frazer will hold urgent talks with BBC director-general Tim Davie over “deeply concerning” allegations that an unnamed presenter at the corporation paid a teenager for sexually explicit images.
Senior officials have told the broadcaster that the allegations reported by The Sun newspaper must be investigated “urgently and sensitively”, with the UK's Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) kept updated.
Ms Frazer and Mr Davie will have a phone call on Sunday as the BBC comes under pressure over its handling of the complaint.
A DCMS spokeswoman said: “These allegations are deeply concerning.
“As a public service broadcaster in receipt of public funding, senior officials have stressed to the BBC that the allegations must be investigated urgently and sensitively, with the department kept informed.
“The Culture Secretary will be speaking to Tim Davie later today.”
The Sun newspaper said the star paid the person, said to have been 17 when the payments began, £35,000 (€40,000) in exchange for the images.
In the latest claim, the young person’s mother said she saw a picture of the presenter on her child’s phone “sitting on a sofa in his house in his underwear”.
The mother said she was told it was “a picture from some kind of video call” and looked like he was “getting ready for my child to perform for him”.
The family were said to have complained to the BBC on May 19th but became frustrated that the star remained on air. He is understood not to be due on air in the near future.
Hate to disappoint the haters but it’s not me.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 8, 2023
Media lawyer Mark Stephens said the BBC handling of the complaint had been a “shambles”, arguing it had “really dropped the ball”.
“And it does seem that they’ve also caused this to escalate, because it was the frustration with the BBC not acting that led to the family to go to the Sun newspaper,” he told Times Radio.
“And that I think is reckless, because of course what has happened is we’ve seen all this conjecture on social media.”
A number of BBC stars publicly said they were not the presenter at the centre of the allegations, amid heavy speculation about their identity on social media.
Gary Lineker tweeted: “Hate to disappoint the haters but it’s not me.”
Rylan Clark wote: “Not sure why my name’s floating about but re that story in the Sun – that ain’t me babe. I’m currently filming a show in Italy for the BBC, so take my name out ya mouths.”
I won’t sit back and have my name attached to something that has nothing to do with me. I responded originally because my name amongst others was trending on social media yesterday morning. I ask all media outlets to please be careful with their subtext when using my photo…
— R Y L A N (@Rylan) July 9, 2023
Jeremy Vine said: “Just to say I’m very much looking forward to hosting my radio show on Monday — whoever the ‘BBC Presenter’ in the news is, I have the same message for you as Rylan did earlier: it certainly ain’t me.”
Nicky Campbell suggested he had contacted police about being mentioned online in connection with the story.
He tweeted a screenshot which featured the Metropolitan Police logo and the words: “Thank you for contacting the Metropolitan Police Service to report your crime.”
He wrote: “I think it’s important to take a stand. There’s just too many of these people on social media. Thanks for your support friends.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “We treat any allegations very seriously and we have processes in place to proactively deal 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.
“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 point, new information comes to light or is provided – including via newspapers – this will be acted upon appropriately, in line with internal processes.”
