Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has said he believes the BBC presenter accused of paying a teenager thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos “should now come forward publicly”.
The BBC Radio 2 broadcaster made the remarks after a second person came forward with a complaint about the unnamed presenter.
The individual in their early 20s told BBC News they felt threatened by the presenter at the centre of the scandal that has dominated headlines.
BBC presenter latest: New claims against presenter
“These new allegations will result in yet more vitriol being thrown at perfectly innocent colleagues of his,” Vine tweeted.
“And the BBC, which I’m sure he loves, is on its knees with this.
“But it is his decision and his alone.”
Vine was one of a host of BBC presenters forced to deny being the unnamed star at the centre of scandal, tweeting that “it certainly ain’t me”.
But Richard Bacon, a former BBC radio host, disagreed – saying: “Stop it. You’re more emotionally intelligent than this. We don’t know the complexities of what his family are going through. Or what dark thoughts are running through his head. Irrespective of what he’s done wrong. You can walk off people wrongly guessing it’s you for five minutes.”
Late on Tuesday, further allegations were published by The Sun newspaper – claiming the presenter had broken lockdown rules to meet an individual in their 20s, and had sent “creepy” messages to a 17-year-old in 2018.
The latest allegations add further pressure on the BBC after it suspended the unnamed star over the weekend.
Presenter ‘should take control of narrative’
During a special Sky News programme on the BBC scandal, a crisis management expert advised the unnamed presenter to come forward and “take control of the narrative”.
Asked what she would tell the presenter to do, Lauren Beeching said: “Now we have the second person coming forward, without a doubt I’d now be saying ‘you just need to come clean’.
“That would be my personal advice. That’s the only way the person being accused right now can take control of the narrative.”
She said she suspects the presenter will be named “imminently” and it would be “very compelling if he can prove any slight innocence in this, if there’s any evidence he has, [he should] put it out there”.
The presenter should come clean for the sake of his colleagues, she added, as “they’re being scrutinised and it’s just not fair on them”.
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Online impact of the BBC allegations
Other BBC stars speak out
Several other stars have spoken out to distance themselves from the allegations.
BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Nicky Campbell appeared to reveal he had gone to the police after being wrongly named as the man online, posting a screenshot on Twitter which said: “Thank you for contacting the Metropolitan Police Service to report your crime.”
Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker tweeted: “Hate to disappoint the haters but it’s not me.”
TV and radio host Rylan Clark tweeted: “Not sure why my names floating about but re that story in the sun – that ain’t me babe.”
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Several other presenters have also been falsely named on social media but have so far decided not to issue public denials.
