Hoping that Greg Wallace is forgiven, rather than cancelled

[Toodaloo1567]

Just a few concerns about this whole GW thing. Caveat: I do not condone behaviour that is illegal.

1. It does kind of look like a whole bunch of privileged TV luvvies are clamouring to denounce someone with really quite humble roots. I grew up in London and am constantly paranoid about how I come across to my mainly middle class colleagues. The thing is, middle class and privileged people operate by a set of unwritten rules. It’s like a full time job in itself trying to emulate their way of interacting, lest you be called out for not being ‘nice’ enough or doing something odd to them, like forgetting to start an email with ‘Hope you are well?’. Only, they won’t let you know to your face that you’ve accidentally been too sharp or direct, or maybe that your joke wasn’t woke enough - no, that stuff just goes straight to HR.
2. The equality act 2010 makes it the employer’s responsibility to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Why wasn’t all this lewd stuff dealt with? GW said that no one had made a formal complaint. Again, it makes me wonder whether the middle class luvvies just didn’t want to call things out at the time because it’s ‘beneath’ them to even consider doing something about it.
3. Even though he’s apologised, the public doesn’t think that’s good enough. It’s like only perfect people get to keep their careers. Woe betide you if you said something crass on twitter 10 years ago, or got caught speeding or something.

Of course, lots of you would want to shout me down over this, but you know what? We’re all mums here and many of us have sons. Boys and young men do and say crass things. GW hasn’t raped or systematically abused anyone. It doesn’t make what’s happened right, but I also don’t think it’s right that swarms of pitch-fork waving strangers get to play judge, jury and executioner. I’m a big fan of forgiveness. Am I the only one?

Oh, OP. Really, I’m mean really??
The world in which my boss walks naked into our office with a sock on his dick for ‘bants’ luckily doesn’t exist. Nor does the one where he mimics getting oral sex from a young staff member who’s bent down near him, not the one where he asks me repeatedly about my sex life because I’m gay.

Why the FUCK should this shitty, creep get away with it when it wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere else?

Just occurred to me. Am musing. If this is to be reframed as nothing but hysteria as a potential route to resolve then there could be an issue with that.

Wasn’t hysteria an affliction of woman best cured by a hysterectomy? How’s that going to help him get the ‘certain age’ women off his back 🤔

Can’t speak for the rest of you harpies but a hysterectomy ain’t gonna make any difference to what I’ve got going on.

PixiesToGo · Today 00:07
Agree OP.
The media’s response has been completely ridiculous and hysterical. He’s actually on the front page of a few newspapers. It is if he murdered someone! All he did was make a few risqué comments, boo-hoo to all these celebrity women go completely bonkers about it. It’s pathetic. And also a bit frightening - that people have become so completely intolerant that they witch hunt to destroy peoples careers over this trivial nonsense.

I'm curious - would you honestly be OK enduring the kind of treatment at work that Wallace handed out to female co-workers (if you're a woman), or for a daughter to suffer it?

I just can't get my head round a woman thinking this is acceptable. I know you may not be a woman! I can see why some men might agree with Gregg Wallace, unfortunately, but not women.

I'd like to hear how you square his behaviour with any kind of respect for women.

It’s been reported that GW unfollowed JT and his wife (although GW’s wife follows them ) If he’s not going to throw JT under the bus for his behaviour (the wanking allegation is 🤢) then this strop amongst the mess is almost funny.

‘I agree that saying that GW is just an old dinosaur ’

and he can piss off and be one at home, or in the pub,or with his rugger bugger mates…
Somewhere where he doesn’t have such power that the people who don’t like it aren’t in a position to either say so or get away from him.

wtf has being working class got to do with being a sexually gross twat?

Has anyone thought to check in with the current Mrs Wallace to make sure she's safe?

The full and fair investigation was already underway when GW decided to make the "women of a certain age" statement. Any doubts about the veracity of the claims pretty much disappeared in a puff of smoke at that point. Now so many more women have come forward, it is hard to believe they are all lying

@Paddymcpaddy his sort of views/conversations/behaviour shouldn't really be encouraged in the home, pub, with his rugger bugger mates, as they are so disparaging of females. We need men to call out that sort of thinking/conversation even amongst their mates

I hope she has someone looking out for her.

I think if the accusations against my husband, son or brother were well into double figures and spanned over a decade I might be forced to consider that they might have done something wrong.

@PandoraSox the same with me, once he put that video up, all bets were off as far as I was concerned, it showed exactly what he thought and what he would be like.

If my DS was accused by a variety of women from across a number of workplaces/organisations of sexual harassment I think I would struggle to believe he was completely innocent even before there was other proof he was guilty. And these allegations came from an investigation, it wasn't a group of women who got together in a pub or on social media and decided to pick on GW

YABU for many reasons but the most obvious one to me is that it makes no sense to forgive the perpetrator in this instance when such behaviour is career-ending in other similar ones. You can argue over whether forgiveness should be more common and cancelling be cancelled, but to say middle class victims who are "women of a certain age" are less the victim because the perpetrator is working class is appalling. Victims are victims regardless of who the perpetrator is.

@Snorlaxo , I read it the other way around, GW is “fuming and furious “ that J and L stopped following him!
Contestants from Eat Well for Less now saying he was the same on that show, he rubbed one poor woman up close in the supermarket, and said “bet you enjoyed that “ what a creep.

This. There’s sleazes and arseholes in all social classes. Sometimes people turn out that way in spite of their upbringing, so it may be a personality disorder trait thing, anyway.
Egg has shown his true colours so should expect the consequences of his choices.

As there is now over 750 replies and op hasn’t come back since the first post, I fully believe this is either one of his team, his HR or someone at bbc looking for unbiased public opinions. I hope they read every single response

https://news.sky.com/story/nestle-memo-reveals-bbc-knew-about-unacceptable-behaviour-from-gregg-wallace-on-factory-show-last-year-13266258

The BBC was alerted to Gregg Wallace's "unacceptable" behaviour while filming Inside The Factory more than a year and a half ago, Sky News can confirm.

A memo to staff at the Nestle factory in York shows concerns were raised with both the broadcaster and production company Voltage TV after Wallace's final visit in February 2023.

The memo, which was shared on the company intranet, says the "experience of some of the team taking part in the filming had not been a pleasant one" and had "compromised" Nestle's values.

An accompanying letter from Nestle's head of media relations to the factory manager states: "We have written to the production company... and spoken to the BBC to bring our unacceptable experience to their attention in the hope that it is not repeated in other workplaces around the UK."

While the letter does not name Wallace directly, it is understood to be in reference to him.

And

The company's memo reiterates a "zero-tolerance approach towards any allegation of discrimination, harassment or bullying of any kind in the workplace, whether this be by an employee, contractor, or visitor".

And

It was the programme's fifth visit to a Nestle site and its third to York, but the memo says "we will not be working with Inside the Factory again in the future" as the show "did not meet our high standards of respect".

"We will not tolerate any kind of racism, misogyny, homophobia, bullying, exclusion or harassment and we have strict policies in place to deal swiftly and decisively with this kind of behaviour," the memo adds.

That was shared on the company internal intranet! So everyone at Nestle knew. Nestle told the BBC at the time and STILL the BBC didn't pause to think 'Hmm do we think continuing to film is a great idea?!'.

Like wtf?!

Speaking as a middle class woman of a certain age (albeit with very humble working class roots) I do feel uneasy about the way the Gregg Wallace situation has been handled. I have worked with umpteen men who have done similar to what is alleged - sexist jokes, comments about women's appearances, jokes about periods/time of the month, patting of bottoms.... etc etc, all not acceptable but also very common in certain workplaces even 10 years ago. Gregg's behaviour (alleged behaviour) should have been nipped in the bud years ago - he is of a generation where this sort of thing was far more accepted and the employer should have explained to him that this is not acceptable and taken him down the disciplinary route if things did not change I also have concerns about all the allegations being splashed all over the media - it was on tv as breaking news that Masterchef Christmas Special had been withdrawn - seriously why is that newsworthy. I am not excusing the alleged behaviour or the impact it could have on the alleged victims but I think we should also consider the impact on Gregg Wallace (who has not done anything criminal as far as we know), and his family.

but I think we should also consider the impact on Gregg Wallace

Sorry but if the BBC and various production companies had done their fucking job properly in the first place then Gregg would not be in this position now.

That's on THEM not me.

It's time they took some fucking responsibility for this rather it constantly be laid as the fault of women in one way or another.

You might want to explain - IF you can - why making sexual innuendos to women is just fine and dandy in your opinion, @PixiesToGo. Tell us how you are such a cool girl that you wouldn't care about someone making gross, lewd comments or exposing himself to a junior employee who would definitely NOT be supported by her bosses if she complained. Tell us how you'd tell your upset and scared daughter to suck it up and stop being hysterical, if one of her bosses was bullying her like this.

Or tell us you are a blokey bloke like Gregggg and none of us will be surprised.

Nestle.

Such hysterical snowflakes.

he is of a generation where this sort of thing was far more accepted and the employer should have explained to him that this is not acceptable and taken him down the disciplinary route if things did not change

This is such rubbish. My (working class) DH is of the same age as GW and would never, ever have acted in that way. Why are people making excuses for him? Agree that the BBC should have taken action a long time ago.

I think we should also consider the impact on Gregg Wallace (who has not done anything criminal as far as we know), and his family

I'll add it to the list. After I've finished considering the impact of GW behaviour on women over the years. So probably about August 2030.

I've always managed to avoid my family seeing reports of my predatory behaviour by the simple expedient of not being a sex pest. Like most of the population.

Oh and he is absolutely not "of the generation which normalised this". I'm similar vintage and the men of my generation were not overwhelmingly sex pests. My WC DF would have been disgusted by it as well.

These are all just excuses and minimisers of what is bog standard pervy behaviour. It occurs in individuals who get their rocks off intimdating women, they occur in every demographic.

Maybe Greg Wallace should have thought of the impact on others, and himself, before he harassed and assaulted lots of women. And I won’t use allegedly because I believe women.

I’m ten years older than Wallace and it’s never been acceptable.