It must have been a strange weekend to be one of the BBC’s hundreds upon hundreds of male TV or radio presenters. After the Sun revealed allegations from a mother that a male “household name” had “groomed” her teenage child and had them send illicit photos in exchange for payment, Twitter went on a witch hunt for the right name.
This was exacerbated by a breadcrumb trail of clues – especially once the BBC said the star had been suspended and would not appear on air while the allegations were investigated. Online sleuths checked for who had and hadn’t appeared, and whether or not X or Y had turned up in their usual broadcast slot. Presenters take time off all the time – just like people in any other job they get sick or take holidays, or their shows are seasonal and so aren’t broadcast all the time. The Sun’s decision not to name the presenter concerned meant that dozens of other presenters got accused of misconduct, and several were so pressured that they felt compelled to issue statements saying that they were not the person at the heart of the story.
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