BBC stars reach out to under-fire presenter after ‘anger’ at sexting allegations

The BBC presenter has been suspended by the corporation (Image: Getty) BBC stars have offered their support to the ‘angry’ presenter at the centre of accusations that he paid a young person for sexual images. The national broadcaster has been in the spotlight after it emerged it took several weeks for complaints filed against the presenter to be investigated by the corporation. Following the publication of the story, a number of BBC stars have offered the under-fire presenter their support. The presenter in question is reported to be ‘angry’ at the way the story has been handled since it hit the headlines last week. Since the initial allegations became public, several others have come forward with claims the BBC presenter behaved inappropriately towards them too. Now, however, former BBC North America Editor Jon Sopel has revealed several of the corporation’s employees have been in touch with the suspended star. Jon Sopel has said that several BBC stars have offered support to the presenter (Image: Getty) Mr Sopel, who now co-hosts The News Agents podcast for Global, said: ‘A number of people have been in touch with the presenter to say they feel righteous fury over the way The Sun has covered this. ‘And it is fair to say that the presenter at the heart of this is also extremely angry over a lot of The Sun coverage and is convinced they’re trying to dig and find new dirt to harm this particular person’s reputation. ‘The person at the centre of this – you can’t imagine what a maelstrom it must be – is getting some support from across the world of broadcast but from outside that as well.’ The BBC star was alleged to have broken lockdown rules (Image: Getty) Reports claim that the BBC presenter broke lockdown rules to meet a young person in February 2021. The allegations emerged after The Sun initially published a story saying the presenter had paid a young person £35,000 for sexually explicit images. Another person came forward and claimed the presenter had sent them abusive text messages, after they refused to meet with them and threatened to expose their identity. A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: “As a result of recent developments, further inquiries are ongoing to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence.” The BBC is now facing fresh allegations after three others emerged on Tuesday, with BBC host Jeremy Vine saying the presenter involved should “now come forward publicly”. The latest episode of The News Agents is available to listen to on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.