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Original poster

How does the BBC get out of the presenter mess?

1000 replies

mids2019 · 11/07/2023 07:13

Seriously how does the BBC now go forward and what can be the conclusion to this story? The story could run for some time with on going speculation about the presenter and eventually in my opinion a name will drop.

Can there therefore be any sort of fair investigation because I think there may be too much aspirational damage now for a career to be as ed. It seems the knives the BBC sit on this the more scrutiny there is and they desperately need a conclusion?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Sunnydays41 · 11/07/2023 22:09

On the News at 10, they have just reported that the BBC themselves reached out to the second young person during their investigative journalism; the second young person didn't approach the BBC.

RedToothBrush · 11/07/2023 22:10

EsmaCannonball · 11/07/2023 22:05

I do hate it when certain publications use a story as part of their axe to grind against Covid regulations but in this case it does seem to suggest the presenter was both desperate and reckless. It would just take one curtain-twitching neighbour to report the young man for having visitors and the police could have been involved. What staggers me about all this is you go to all the trouble of hiding your sexuality for years (including being married to someone of the opposite sex) but then you're texting half of Grindr, despite being one of the most well-known faces in the country.

It doesn't matter if they have an axe to grind over covid regulations.

There is a reality here; a BBC presenter in the job that he has CAN NOT be seen to have been breaking the regulations regardless of whether or not you agree with them or not. Why? Because of his job. If caught breaking the regulations it would have brought the BBC into disrepute...

... can you imagine the headlines at the time? Mr X breaks lockdown regulations. We have enough of a fuss about various Tories doing this.

Its another person in a position of power not following the rules because they don't believe they apply to them. Thats not good optics for the BBC and its reputation of integrity.

Sunnydays41 · 11/07/2023 22:10

RedToothBrush · 11/07/2023 22:03

I'm trying to focus on the DETAILS of the allegations because its far more important.

Yes the implication is they are male, but there is nothing thats officially been says that says that explicitly.
In terms of putting together stuff based on what IS in the public sphere its important to read the words to letter as everything is just so carefully worded at the moment.

Show quote history

Victoria Derbyshire did refer to "the young man" last night on Newsnight about the first individual.

Aaron95 · 11/07/2023 22:11

Sweetashunni · 11/07/2023 13:38

17 year olds are not children either. Are children allowed to leave home and set up on their own? Didn’t think so. Uncomfortably young yes and speaks volumes of this presenter as a person but not a child and no laws have been broken.

I do find it quite bizarre that at 16 you can consent and have sex with someone but if you send them a nude photo a crime has been committed. Surely those age limits should be the same.

RedToothBrush · 11/07/2023 22:11

BBC News have just said that the BBC have been asked by the police to step back from their investigation about the FIRST case - so they can establish if there is a criminal issue. This leaves the BBC in a limbo position.

Tink51971 · 11/07/2023 22:13

But did not some sky reporters break lockdown rules for a birthday party, and what happened….

VisionsOfSplendour · 11/07/2023 22:14

Sunnydays41 · 11/07/2023 22:10

Victoria Derbyshire did refer to "the young man" last night on Newsnight about the first individual.

Show quote history

Multiple TV people have refereed to young person 1 being male, why do people keep insisting it's a woman?

VisionsOfSplendour · 11/07/2023 22:15

Tink51971 · 11/07/2023 22:13

But did not some sky reporters break lockdown rules for a birthday party, and what happened….

They did and they were suspended from work iirc

WeWereInParis · 11/07/2023 22:15

There is a reality here; a BBC presenter in the job that he has CAN NOT be seen to have been breaking the regulations regardless of whether or not you agree with them or not. Why? Because of his job. If caught breaking the regulations it would have brought the BBC into disrepute...

... can you imagine the headlines at the time? Mr X breaks lockdown regulations. We have enough of a fuss about various Tories doing this.

To be fair, purely on the covid restrictions bit, didn't Kay Burley have a party that broke lockdown rules, and was attended by Beth Rigby as well?
In fairness to sky, I think they were both suspended for a bit. But they did keep their jobs.
Not that the covid rule breaking is the key part of the story here anyway!

RedToothBrush · 11/07/2023 22:18

Tink51971 · 11/07/2023 22:13

But did not some sky reporters break lockdown rules for a birthday party, and what happened….

Well they got suspended...

Beth Rigby was banned from appearing on tv for 3 months by Sky. Rigby offered to resign over the breach. Kay Burley was taken off air for 6 months.
Inzaman Rashid and Sam Washington also were suspended for some time.

EsmaCannonball · 11/07/2023 22:19

The media are being cagey about the sex of the young people because they don't want to be accused of outing the presenter. If it was a presenter who was already known to be gay they would be less nebulous.

CaramelMac · 11/07/2023 22:19

There’s clearly a lot more to this than is being reported.

Why would anyone pay £35,000 for nude photos, were they especially niche or was it blackmail money?

Presumably the young person withdrew this £35,000 in cash to pay for their crack habit, did the bank not look into where the money came from for potential money laundering? Did his bank or accountant not question the payments?

JayAlfredPrufrock · 11/07/2023 22:22

I go through life not wanting to know what other people get up to in the privacy of their own homes.

Doyoumind · 11/07/2023 22:24

EsmaCannonball · 11/07/2023 22:19

The media are being cagey about the sex of the young people because they don't want to be accused of outing the presenter. If it was a presenter who was already known to be gay they would be less nebulous.

I've heard multiple media sources refer to the young person as a man. It's definitely a man. I think there are now three separate individuals and I guess they are all men.

Ellmau · 11/07/2023 22:24

Presumably the young person withdrew this £35,000 in cash to pay for their crack habit, did the bank not look into where the money came from for potential money laundering? Did his bank or accountant not question the payments?

I don't think it was all in one go.

VisitationRights · 11/07/2023 22:25

Media companies have a policy not to out anyone. Since the presumed presenter is married to a woman they are using neutral pronouns when referring to the young people. If they use male pronouns they are effectively outing the closeted male presenter.

Ger1atricMillennial · 11/07/2023 22:25

Watching this play out from the other side of the world....

  1. At this point in time no illegal activities have been uncovered even though there is "evidence". It looks like the "parents" of the "child" accounts are flawed. So even in the best of faith we can say that they clearly only have a portion of the facts, which hasn't so far stood up to police scrutiny.
  2. As one person's account of coercive or abusive behaviour, doesn't prove anything you always have to show a pattern of behaviour. Now the second person has come out with some "threatening" messages a pattern of behaviour can therefore now established.
  3. What is very obvious is that there seems to be a concerted effort to hold the BBC accountable. I believe The Sun revealed their intentions by not writing the story of "rich influential person- buys sex off of younger (vulnerable) person" which doesn't blame the BBC. Instead, they created this hoopla about a "BBC Presenter is responsible for my kid having crack, and if the BBC can just make the payments stop then the BBC would be no longer responsible for the addiction". They positioned the BBC (not the presenter) as the "big bad", the, The Sun as the savior and the mother (not the kid) as the victim. It's the classic drama triangle.

In addition, I believe that there are posters on this thread that are clearly taking an extreme stance on getting rid of the BBC, even with very little to go on and I think these posts are not genuine. They have a certain "Boris Johnson trying to get out of the EU" flavour to them. The BBC is neither government funded or accepts advertising and therefore has the potential and resources to investigate whomever it chooses, on behalf of the British People. To have a solid reputation is imperative to its function, and it is my belief that these posters are from people working for other news corps and are jumping on the P. Schofe bandwagon and directly conflating with Saville.

Soothingaftersun · 11/07/2023 22:27

VisitationRights · 11/07/2023 22:25

Media companies have a policy not to out anyone. Since the presumed presenter is married to a woman they are using neutral pronouns when referring to the young people. If they use male pronouns they are effectively outing the closeted male presenter.

How kind of them

QueefQueen80s · 11/07/2023 22:27

OvaHere · 11/07/2023 22:03

I've no idea why there was so much effort to excuse this man and blame everyone else but him when the most plausible answer was always a middle age man caught being sleazy with people young enough to be grandkids.

He is the only person to blame for his downfall. He chose to behave like this.

Well said 🙌🏼
Can't stand all the sleaze apologists

gemstoneju · 11/07/2023 22:27

CaramelMac · 11/07/2023 22:19

There’s clearly a lot more to this than is being reported.

Why would anyone pay £35,000 for nude photos, were they especially niche or was it blackmail money?

Presumably the young person withdrew this £35,000 in cash to pay for their crack habit, did the bank not look into where the money came from for potential money laundering? Did his bank or accountant not question the payments?

Do banks probe deposits/withdrawals like that? I thought that was the account holder's own business.

Blossomtoes · 11/07/2023 22:28

Ger1atricMillennial · 11/07/2023 22:25

Watching this play out from the other side of the world....

  1. At this point in time no illegal activities have been uncovered even though there is "evidence". It looks like the "parents" of the "child" accounts are flawed. So even in the best of faith we can say that they clearly only have a portion of the facts, which hasn't so far stood up to police scrutiny.
  2. As one person's account of coercive or abusive behaviour, doesn't prove anything you always have to show a pattern of behaviour. Now the second person has come out with some "threatening" messages a pattern of behaviour can therefore now established.
  3. What is very obvious is that there seems to be a concerted effort to hold the BBC accountable. I believe The Sun revealed their intentions by not writing the story of "rich influential person- buys sex off of younger (vulnerable) person" which doesn't blame the BBC. Instead, they created this hoopla about a "BBC Presenter is responsible for my kid having crack, and if the BBC can just make the payments stop then the BBC would be no longer responsible for the addiction". They positioned the BBC (not the presenter) as the "big bad", the, The Sun as the savior and the mother (not the kid) as the victim. It's the classic drama triangle.

In addition, I believe that there are posters on this thread that are clearly taking an extreme stance on getting rid of the BBC, even with very little to go on and I think these posts are not genuine. They have a certain "Boris Johnson trying to get out of the EU" flavour to them. The BBC is neither government funded or accepts advertising and therefore has the potential and resources to investigate whomever it chooses, on behalf of the British People. To have a solid reputation is imperative to its function, and it is my belief that these posters are from people working for other news corps and are jumping on the P. Schofe bandwagon and directly conflating with Saville.

Excellent summary. Of course you’ll now be accused of defending depravity.

Ombrémermaid · 11/07/2023 22:29

Genuine question as I have not looked at all the details, and there are big gaps in my knowledge of all of these TV scandals, but how come Schofield was named when news of his scandal broke, but BBC presenter is allowed to remain anonymous? It was stated that Schofield hadn’t done anything “illegal” in that sense? Immoral, yes, but within the law. If that argument applies to BBC man, why didn’t it apply to Schofield? I’m confused. Can anyone enlighten me?

Caramelatt · 11/07/2023 22:31

RedToothBrush · 11/07/2023 22:10

It doesn't matter if they have an axe to grind over covid regulations.

There is a reality here; a BBC presenter in the job that he has CAN NOT be seen to have been breaking the regulations regardless of whether or not you agree with them or not. Why? Because of his job. If caught breaking the regulations it would have brought the BBC into disrepute...

... can you imagine the headlines at the time? Mr X breaks lockdown regulations. We have enough of a fuss about various Tories doing this.

Its another person in a position of power not following the rules because they don't believe they apply to them. Thats not good optics for the BBC and its reputation of integrity.

Show quote history

Yes, but enough people in government and those who made the rules broke the lockdown rules.

SmartHome · 11/07/2023 22:32

QueefQueen80s · 11/07/2023 22:27

Well said 🙌🏼
Can't stand all the sleaze apologists

Show quote history

Completely agree. I can't believe some people are treating him like a victim on here. He's a predatory sleaze with low morals and I'm glad he's been caught out. The only way society will improve for women and young people is if men like this are publicly embarrassed and entitled men are made to think twice about the consequences of prioritising getting their rocks off over all else.

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