BBC presenter allegations.

No, not happy.

Well yeah if we all pretend that sex work is work and it's all so empowering for young women, we end up with this kind of mess.

Casdon

Kate1949

IF and I emphasise IF, it transpires that a famous person has been paying a young person to do what has been alleged, assuming nothing illegal has taken place, who on here would be happy to continue to see them on our screens? I'm just interested. Just a hypothetical question.

It’s a good question. I suspect the truth is that there are many thousands of people, both in the public eye and others we know, who we would probably never expect, including children and grandchildren, on sites like Only Fans who are doing just that. There must be, it’s a British site with 210 million subscribers. There are other sites too.
It’s a terrifying thought.

Oh yes, the chances are than many on here will know someone who is doing OnlyFans (or similar sites). I have a friend whose daughter does extremely well for herself on OF - she's already bought a house with the proceeds. Remarkably, both of her parents are absolutely fine with what she posts - and believe me, her content is extremely explicit. Her body, her choice, of course - but how of many us would want our daughters, granddaughters etc doing it?

I think everyone is entitled to a private life - and if nothing illegal took place - then it would make no difference to me whether that person stayed on tv or not. However since I watch little or no tv, the chances are that I wouldn't see them anyway. Equally the chances are that I haven't heard of them either.

If anyone thinks that they don’t know or are in anyway connected to someone who doesn’t use or even work on these sites you’re incredibly naive.

What I can’t understand is why the BBC person is somehow responsible for turning this ‘innocent child’ into a crack addict. Surely the crack habit was already there and probably the reason the young person was doing what they did. I don’t think calling this man a predator is acceptable.

As for not wanting to see him on our screens - wouldn’t bother me. If you’re so ignorant of the foibles of people, especially those in showbiz, you need to take the rose tinted specs off. You see many people on screen who get up to all sorts of unsavoury stuff; you just don’t know about it.

GrannyGravy13

No doubt all those who have been incorrectly named on other social media sites will have their lawyers on speed dial and be looking forward to a few £’s in defamation damages.

Yes, and rightly so.

Kate I don't know what I would do in the circumstances, but it would feel like a slap in the face to keep seeing him on the screen.

Casdon you are, I'm sure, right about the extent of 'dodgy behaviour' (for want of a better phrase) on sites like Only Fans. None of us can be sure that our nearest and dearest would never get involved, just as we can't be certain that they would never get addicted to drugs or other substances.

Time will tell what the outcome of this will be. Whether the young person and the mother are singing from the same hymn sheet remains to be seen - it looks unlikely, but the police should be able to get to the truth.

Sorry - I didn't refresh the page - my comment to Kate was about how I would feel if I were the mum.

Does the latest news mean the mother made it all up?

Well, the young lad involved, has said, through his lawyer, that the allegations are rubbish, and he's now talking about suing for lack of privacy.

God knows.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66159357

Smileless2012

None of this should have been made public until someone's been charged.

I agree. I think the police are looking into it now.

Scotland Yard say they're not looking into this.

Young person involved is now saying nothing happened and The Sun is printing rubbish

merlotgran

Does the latest news mean the mother made it all up?

Not necessarily. It could easily mean that the son didn't want her to put a stop to it.

The Sun will not have published anything that was not substantiated. All they said was that a complaint had been made to the BBC and had not been followed up. They did not even hint at the identity of the presenter.

Also, as I said upthread, the story broke on the day of the Osbourne wedding, and the email sent to the guests has had very little coverage.

DiamondLily

Well, the young lad involved, has said, through his lawyer, that the allegations are rubbish, and he's now talking about suing for lack of privacy.

God knows.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66159357

Once again, it has been inferred that it is a ‘young lad’, where it hasn’t been reported. I saw someone on Lorraine Kelly talking about a young girl, and LK had to correct her, and earlier in this thread someone mentioned that Al-Jazeera was talking about a girl, as was someone on GB news. So, will that affect the armchair detectives’ opinions?
And now, the young person is saying the story is ‘rubbish’. So, if the police find there is insufficient evidence and take no action, how many of the presenters who have been tried and found guilty by people who don’t read things properly ( or at all) will find their reputations tarnished by the ‘ I knew there was something fishy about him’ brigade?

So, will that affect the armchair detectives’ opinions?

Your investigations and presentation of evidence from various sources suggest you are a bit of an 'armchair detective' yourself though, wouldn't you say? .

Let this be a lesson, never, never trust these rags that pass themselves off as newspapers, but are in fact nothing more then mouthpieces for their owners agenda.

I can see massive litigation/libel action coming out of this.

Casdon

Kate1949

IF and I emphasise IF, it transpires that a famous person has been paying a young person to do what has been alleged, assuming nothing illegal has taken place, who on here would be happy to continue to see them on our screens? I'm just interested. Just a hypothetical question.

It’s a good question. I suspect the truth is that there are many thousands of people, both in the public eye and others we know, who we would probably never expect, including children and grandchildren, on sites like Only Fans who are doing just that. There must be, it’s a British site with 210 million subscribers. There are other sites too.
It’s a terrifying thought.

...on sites like Only Fans who are doing just that. There must be, it’s a British site with 210 million subscribers.

We are in the 'age' of the influencer... for good or bad. Influencers, who are paid for their content. It makes me uneasy that OF is hugely popular with sex workers.

I do recall that I was very impressionable in teen-adulthood. And I did silly things because I was completely lacking in any critical-thinking skills. Nothing illegal. But I can see how young adults under the age of 17 are persuaded to do things against their own wellbeing and welfare.

No, I wouldn't be happy to continue to watch anyone who had exploited the naivety of young people, even if such exploitation were perfectly legal.

I have a 15 year old grandson, dipping his toes into the adult world, full of enthusiasm about the future, and hate the thought of some 'influencer' or older adult manipulating his young mind.

Thank you Dickens, that post gave me some hope.

The Sun printed what the mother told them, and there is so much mud swirling around this story now.Maybe they were misled or maybe they thought there was a real case.
I think it shows the worst face of SM where BBC presenters are now being talked about and rubbished by trolls.
Now the young man in question, not a young lad btw says that nothing improper ever happened.It’s madness!

It's beginning to sound like a fight between mum and son. In public.

cui bono?

The Sun and its ilk.

The young person who is the alleged victim has now instructed a Lawyer (from a well-known multi-national company) to send a formal letter to the Sun advising them that the claims made by the parents are "total rubbish", and accusing the Sun of being complicit in an invasion of privacy. So what's it all been about? Nothing? And where does it go from here? Nowhere? If this so-called story hadn't been stoked up in the first place by a combination of the gutter press and the playground gossip of social media, it would have just quietly died the death. But no, let's make it a "major news item" and generate a bit of self-righteous hysteria. Any lessons learnt? I doubt it...

Yet old enough to join the army and be trained to kill. Old enough to legally have sex and make babies. What a warped world we live in.

As soon as the police said they were not going atm to pursue investigation I thought there's something very weird going on here.

And so much for current conservative ministers weaponising it.
Anti Beeb?
Distraction?

they were very quick to get onto it, weren't they?

The trouble is it's not possible to discuss issues relating to the Beeb without someone shouting about anti beeb feeling and lack of critical thinking. I support the BBC but there have been a number of occasions where they have created a culture whch enabled inappropriate behaviour to thrive. The issues on dr who being a recent example.

Maybe the media generally, Galaxy? (ITV, film world, et al not exactly free of same). Still working my head around it but something to do with "celeb" and entitlement.

BTW, just out of interest, how old was the young woman you described *ex working on the internet?

What a mess. It’s not so dissimilar from the Schofield situation in that it appears the young person involved wants no publicity.
I’m reluctant to criticise mothers because we can all react less than wisely if we are worried about our young adult children.m it’s also probably judgemental but The Sun? At least the DM has a history of occasional investigative journalism.
I’m not sure what the bbc can investigate, which is what The Sun says they must do. There appears not to be a complaint.