BBC stars who have denied being presenter at centre of presenter allegations

The unidentified individual has been accused of paying a teenager more than £35,000 for the imagery, from when the youngster was 17 years old.

The corporation has been in touch with the police and confirmed a male member of staff has been suspended and, according to BBC News, the corporation will meet the Metropolitan Police later today ‘to discuss the matter’.

The BBC has said it had been investigating a complaint since May, when it was first made aware, and that new allegations of a ‘different nature’ were brought to its attention on Thursday.

Due to rumours on social media, a number of high profile stars have been forced to deny any involvement.

Rylan Clark

‘Not sure why my names floating about but re that story in The Sun- that ain’t me babe,’ he posted on Twitter.

‘I’m currently filming a show in Italy for the BBC, so take my name out ya mouths,’ he added, in a nod to Will Smith at last year’s Oscars, when he told host Chris Rock to keep wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s name ‘out of his f***ing mouth’.

Rylan, who has worked for the BBC since 2018 on shows such as Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, made his statement after he commented on a post of the newspaper’s front page being shared ahead of publication.

Late on Friday night, Rylan wrote on The Sun’s post: ‘It’s s*** like this that makes Twitter wild, I’m filming a new show in Italy for the BBC.’

Jeremy Vine

He responded to tweets trying to identify him as the BBC presenter, saying: ‘This is seriously defamatory of me. I have screenshotted it and the retweets and passed it to a lawyer. There is no truth WHATSOEVER in what you are saying.’

He added elsewhere: ‘They are completely and utterly untrue.’

Jeremy now hosts weekday programme The Jeremy Vine Show on Channel 5, while he continues to present a daytime BBC2 radio programme.

In a separate tweet, he wrote: ‘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.’

Gary Lineker

He wrote on Twitter: ‘Hate to disappoint the haters but it’s not me.’

Nihal Arthanayake

BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Nihal Arthanayake has also been forced to respond to rumours surrounding the identity of the unnamed presenter.

He tweeted: ‘I’m off air because of the tennis. Like I am every year. Back on air 17th July.’

Nicky Campbell

‘So a bit of perspective here, worse things happen at sea as they say, but it was a distressing weekend, I can’t deny it, for me and others falsely named. Today I am having further conversations with the police in terms of malicious communication and with lawyers in terms of defamation,’ he said.

On his BBC radio show, a caller rang to say she was ‘so angry and cross’ that he and others had to come forward and clear their names, while he responded: ‘I’m all good, Jeremy and also others involved as well, Rylan and also Gary, yeah it’s uncomfortable but as I said earlier worse things happen at sea. We’re big boys.’

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