BBC Sports Presenter Jermaine Jenas sacked

I can only agree that’s he’s been a stupid young man and deserves what he’s got. I think he had a promising future on tv as a pundit, presenter and guest. I remember him signing for Newcastle United, in awe of Alan Shearer and thought him a decent chap.
One thing I am wondering is how he got the girls’ phone numbers in the first place? I certainly don’t hand mine out Willy-nilly.

How can you consent to having a text sent to you? Don’t they usually just ping onto your phone?

If he’d said ‘would you like to see a picture of my penis?’ and the women (plural) said ‘Ooh, how lovely- yes please’ then it would have been consensual. But (a) that seems highly unlikely, (b) why would they then complain, and (c) how is that acceptable workplace behaviour in any case?

Just because he says something doesn’t make it so. More than one woman has complained - how many have to do so to equal the word of one man? Of course he has a right to a defence, but seriously - what is the other ‘side of the story likely to be? He wouldn’t have been sacked for saying’ you look great in that dress’ would he? He is (was) a very bankable star, and the BBC wouldn’t want to lose him.

Jemaine was a fool, but we do not know the content. These women were over the age of consent, and he said it was consential.
I think there is a difference between a flirty text, although he was a fool and something sexually explicit.
I dont think we can speculate until both sides of the situation is heard.
I suspect there are two sides to this story.

Freya5

lixy

In a minority here I think as I have enjoyed programmes Jermaine Jenas has presented.
Unsolicited texts are wrong but not a dreadful offence, so yes he should have been called out for it but I don’t think his family needed the distress of a public witch hunt.

whose fault is that. It lies,solely with the writer of these letters. Dont shoot the messengers. Just think if he hadn't done it, you could still watch him on tele.

I wasn’t shooting any messengers, just expressing an opinion that his family didn’t do anything to deserve the distress this public shaming of him must be causing them.

Of course the women were right to report unsolicited and unwanted texts, and yes, the fault is with the writer of them.

*liking

I think he is a very attractive 41 year old male who abused his position at work.
If he had done it in private it may not have been an offence as the women were not minors.
But they were junior staff (to him) and he took advantage.
He did not just take a likening to just one women - there are two in the investigation.
That does make him a sex pest.

WELL SAID, MERLOT. (Sorry about the caps!)

Maybe he does feel the BBC have acted quickly and taken a firmer stance because it follows on from the recent Huw Edwards scandal.However the fact remains he had a very prominent role as a presenter on two very popular programmes. And paid very handsomely. Almost 200 thousand pounds.He's blown it and only has himself to blame IMO because he had opportunities and a salary few could dream of,and should have been totally professional.

lixy

In a minority here I think as I have enjoyed programmes Jermaine Jenas has presented.
Unsolicited texts are wrong but not a dreadful offence, so yes he should have been called out for it but I don’t think his family needed the distress of a public witch hunt.

whose fault is that. It lies,solely with the writer of these letters. Dont shoot the messengers. Just think if he hadn't done it, you could still watch him on tele.

It is time that these overpaid and over idolised ‘celebrities’ became aware of their responsibility to young people to set an example.
Many youngsters lack a male role model in life and will look to their heroes for guidance.
Every act of disrespect, especially towards women, feeds in to society.
I’m glad the BBC are finally taking a tough stance.

He has admitted to X rated messages but not photographs to 'two girls' in his workplace. I'd get sacked for the same, I imagine others posting on here would too. It's an abuse of power and against code of conducts in many workplaces.

I'd be really upset if I started getting sexually explicit messages off my male boss who is 20 years my senior it isn't to be minimised

I agree with the last few posts from Doodledog and Iam64. Also thank JaneJudge for the link making the meaning of sexting quite clear.

Apparently “flirty texts”, nothing illegal or threatening; apparently consensual. One young lady reportedly mesmerised by him.

I’m not happy about a man losing his job and probably his career over flirty texts. If it’s more sinister than that he deserves it.

However, if it’s just a case of spite from a young woman realising he had no real interest in her then it’s between him and his wife. Either way he’s been a fool.

What reason could be given for him not losing his job? I don’t believe it’s appropriate to minimise the potential distress and fear involved in opening a text with sexual content. We don’t know the content, but JaneJudge set out the possible description earlier.
Sexually harassing colleagues is a sackable offence. Writing texts with sexual content is a deliberate, considered course of action. One of the recipients reported it, bbc investigated and sacked him. They wouldn’t have done that unless their legal team confirmed his actions constituted a sackable offence.

Huw Edwards was ten times more popular and regarded as an elder statesman of the TV world, which is why there was such a long delay in sacking him.

………and Huw Edwards did something 10x worse than text messages to adult colleagues however crude the texts were Eazybees

I don't think he used social media. My understanding is that they were texts, sent to named individuals for their eyes only, although texts are still evidence if it is required.

I suspect that in most workplaces sexual harassment would be grounds for termination of contract, particularly when sent by a senior employee to a junior one. That's right and proper, IMO. I don't think that people's private lives should be reason for sacking them, but this wasn't private - the victims were colleagues and the BBC had a duty of care.

Without knowing the content of the texts, it's hard to make a judgement on what should be done about this. Still, Jenas has learned the lesson about the consequences of writing things on social media if he was hoping for discretion. Like the keyboard warriors he can't really say that a big boy did it and ran away.

In a minority here I think as I have enjoyed programmes Jermaine Jenas has presented.
Unsolicited texts are wrong but not a dreadful offence, so yes he should have been called out for it but I don’t think his family needed the distress of a public witch hunt.

Yes he does.
I have no desire to see him preening himself in front of the camera, but more importantly, the TV companies know their viewing figures will fall, and that is what it is all about.
Huw Edwards was ten times more popular and regarded as an elder statesman of the TV world, which is why there was such a long delay in sacking him.

He is very busy complaining about the fact that he was not allowed to apologise to the 2 ladies concerned. Trying to brush it all under the carpet. Nothing to see here. It doesn't change anything that although he says the women were consensual, one of them clearly was not and these days women won't stand for it and good for them. Sir Mark Rowley has called the increase of unacceptable treatment of women a national security threat. Jenas's involvement may have been low level but it demeaned these ladies so he deserves to be sacked for it.

Does he really need to lose his job over this? I don't think so.

valdavi

Agree there's no reason to think it's about colour. We don't know what the texts contained ( what Huw Edwards did was illegal, JJ 's texts are not). Knee-jerk reaction yes, but I feel for him to learn of his sacking via the media is totally out of order. Given that they were harassing texts rather than anything with red flags for people's safety,my opinion's that the BBC should have let JJ know before anyone else.

He was told by video call when he was on holiday.

We won’t be told the details so can’t really come to any accurate conclusions. Nor should we.
I thought I heard he was told by his employer at the start of this week.
The only people I feel sorry for are the young girl concerned and his family.

Agree there's no reason to think it's about colour. We don't know what the texts contained ( what Huw Edwards did was illegal, JJ 's texts are not). Knee-jerk reaction yes, but I feel for him to learn of his sacking via the media is totally out of order. Given that they were harassing texts rather than anything with red flags for people's safety,my opinion's that the BBC should have let JJ know before anyone else.

Injected = objected 😕