The BBC has confirmed the suspension of the presenter who has been accused of paying a teen for explicit photos.
The presenter, who remains anonymous, is said to be a well-known figure and has been accused of paying over £35,000 (€40,944) to the person, who is now 20 years old.
The anonymous star allegedly began the payments when the teen was 17.
#Breaking A male member of staff has been suspended following allegations an unnamed BBC presenter paid a teenager for sexually explicit images, the BBC said pic.twitter.com/WGW3EAf7Kg
— PA Media (@PA) July 9, 2023
The teen’s mother alleged that the money sent to them was used to fund a drug addiction, which made them go from “a happy go lucky youngster to a ghost-like crack addict.”
She told The UK Sun: “When I see [the presenter] on telly I feel sick. I blame the BBC for destroying my child’s life. Taking my child’s innocence and handing over the money for crack cocaine that could kill my child.”
A host of well-known faces have since come out to deny claims that they’re the BBC presenter in question.
In a statement released on Saturday, the BBC confirmed that the presenter has been suspended.
The state broadcaster’s statement read: “The BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations.”
“This is a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances and the BBC is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps. It is important that these matters are handled fairly and with care.”
“We have been clear that if – at any point – new information comes to light or is provided to us, this will be acted upon appropriately and actively followed up.”
“The BBC first became aware of a complaint in May. New allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature and in addition to our own enquiries we have also been in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols. We can also confirm a male member of staff has been suspended.”
