Update: We have a name: Renowned BBC News anchor Huw Edwards is the on-air personality facing the allegations. His wife, Vicky Flind, revealed his name via a statement on Wednesday. Edwards anchors BBC News at Ten, the flagship evening news program of the BBC.
Flind issued her statement not only confirming Edwards was the anchor involved, but that he had also been hospitalized after a serious mental health episode. Edwards intends to respond to the stories that have been published once he is able to, Flind added.
Original Story: Additional allegations of sexual misconduct have been made against a high-profile BBC anchor, as three new people have come forward claiming some sort of interaction with the on-air personality.
These new claims, as reported by The Guardian, come as the unnamed anchor is confronting an initial allegation of paying a young person for sexually explicit photos over three years, starting when said person was 17.
The latest twist in this evolving scandal comes from three unnamed people who have alleged they met the unnamed household personality on dating sites. One person claims that the anchor, during the height of the UK’s Covid lockdown rules, breached those rules so as to meet them and was given money for their encounter.
Another person accused the personality of sending “creepy” messages toward them via Instagram chat. This person was 17 years of age when these messages were sent.
The third person in their early 20s has said the BBC personality sent “abusive, expletive-filled messages after the person threatened to name him publicly. The two had met on a dating app but did not meet in person. This person claims to have felt threatened by the anchor’s approach.
This controversy, first published by the UK’s Sun newspaper on Friday, has consumed the British public and media. It has even made Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issue a statement saying that the claims made are “very serious and concerning.”
Numerous BBC male personalities have publicly released statements saying that the unnamed person is not him, as social media has been rampant with wild speculation on who said person could be.
For its part, the BBC has said through its director general Tim Davie that this has been a very “difficult and complex situation. Davie added that the BBC could not provide additional details because it is juggling serious allegations of misconduct and potential criminality, the duty of care it owes its employees, the law on privacy, and legitimate public interest.
The media organization was alerted to the first allegation on May 18, when a family member approached the BBC with the situation. It was then referred to BBC’s internal corporate investigation team, which handles this type of complaint.
BBC management is receiving heat for how it initially handled the complaint, with Davie only being aware of the situation when he was contacted by the Sun on July 6. Davie believes he has handled the matter in a calm and judicious manner, but acknowledges that there will be lessons learned regarding how BBC handled this issue.
In a twist further complicating this scandal, the person at the center of the first allegation has come out and said that the story published by the Sun was wrong and that “nothing illegal or inappropriate” had occurred.
Meanwhile, BBC personality Jeremy Vine via Twitter has called on the personality to name himself and that “These new allegations will result in yet more vitriol being thrown at perfectly innocent colleagues of his. And the BBC, which I’m sure he loves, is on its knees with this.”
I’m starting to think the BBC Presenter involved in the scandal should now come forward publicly. These new allegations will result in yet more vitriol being thrown at perfectly innocent colleagues of his. And the BBC, which I’m sure he loves, is on its knees with this.
But it…— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) July 11, 2023