An unnamed BBC star was taken off air Saturday after allegations surfaced that he paid a teenager more than £35,000 for sexual pictures over a three-year period starting when the boy was 17 years old.
In an interview with The Sun, the mother of the now 20-year-old claimed they informed the BBC about the presenter's behavior on May 19. Telling the outlet he used the money from the star to buy crack cocaine, she said, "I blame this BBC man for destroying my child’s life."
"Taking my child’s innocence and handing over the money for crack cocaine that could kill my child," she continued. "When I see him on telly, I feel sick."
The mother added that her son went from "a happy-go-lucky youngster to a ghost-like crack addict" in just three years. She added, "All I want is for this man to stop paying my child for sexual pictures and stop him funding my child’s drug habit."
She said that when her son showed her his bank statements "There were huge sums, hundreds, or thousands of pounds at a time." She added, "One time he had sent £5,000 in one lump. The money had been in exchange for sexually explicit photographs of my child."
The BBC said the former television host, who is apparently a household name in the UK is not scheduled to be on air, and they are looking into the allegations. "We treat any allegations very seriously and we have processes in place to proactively deal with them," a BBC spokesperson said.
"As part of that, if we receive information that requires further investigation or examination we will take steps to do this. That includes actively attempting to speak to those who have contacted us in order to seek further detail and understanding of the situation," they said. "If we get no reply to our attempts or receive no further contact that can limit our ability to progress things but it does not mean our enquiries stop."
"If, at any point, new information comes to light or is provided - including via newspapers - this will be acted upon appropriately, in line with internal processes," the statement concluded.
After The Sun's article was released and speculation started to swirl, BBC personalities like Ryan Clark and Jeremy Vine ruled themselves out with statements on Twitter.
"Not sure why my names floating about but re that story in the sun- that ain’t me babe," Clark said. "I’m Currently filming a show in Italy for the BBC, so take my name out ya mouths."
"Just to say I'm very much looking forward to hosting my radio show on Monday — whoever the ‘BBC Presenter’ in the news is, I have the same message for you as Rylan did earlier: it certainly ain't me," Vine added.
Katie Razzal, the BBC's culture editor, added that questions remain, including why the organization allowed the man to remain on the air after the serious allegation was made.
