Why is this the thing the country cares about bascally some guy did an onlyfans with someone of legal age? Is it creepy? Yup that's a huge age gap. But looks like it's had the nation on tenter hooks Reddit's UK sub put a megathread up for what? Other than being the usual news outlet suckups they've turned that sub into. I havn't paid attention to it but noticed the rags were full of this like some sort of whodunnit that they seemed to have a greasy pact for.
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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Far be it for me to suggest it's diverted attention from Boris failing to hand over his mobile phone before the COVID inquiry deadline.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-covid-inquiry-whatsapps-b2372638.html
More likely that the economy is at the point of collapse. The mortgages story is the tip of the iceberg. UK's value abroad has gone into freefall. Country's economic value is at lowest point in entire history. No one in press or mainstream media reporting this.
Yup. You do get the feeling that whenever something like this is being broadcast ad nauseum something else is afoot that they don't want us to see.
Why is this the thing the country cares about
Because The Sun has run it on their front page four 4 days now and the coverage has been amplified by the rest of the Murdock outlets. They hate the BBC. The BBC News then had to run it front-and-centre to avoid it looking complascent/covering up. Meanwhile the mystery-identity angle sent social media into overdrive. It was a perfact storm.
Much ado about nothing.
Here is Vicky Flind's statement on behalf of her husband, given to PA news agency, in full:
"In light of the recent reporting regarding the 'BBC Presenter' I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after what have been five extremely difficult days for our family.
"I am doing this primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children.
"Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.
"The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters, he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he'll stay for the foreseeable future.
"Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published.
"To be clear Huw was first told that there were allegations being made against him last Thursday.
"In the circumstances and given Huw's condition I would like to ask that the privacy of my family and everyone else caught up in these upsetting events is respected.
"I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation. We hope this statement will bring that to an end."
The stench of homophobia hanging around this story is vile.
All today's newspaper front pages (except The Star that ran something about Klingons travelling to Mars?) decided this is the biggest thing going on in the cuntry today. Meanwhile, Bank of England tells us that 1 million households will be paying an additional £500 a month on their mortgages and that it's ok because the banks will be able to deal with all the defaults on payments.
This cuntry has lost the plot!
I'm missing the homophobia here? I wasn't even aware of who he was sending the messages to. Maybe I missed that part.
It was always made clear that this was a male "star" and a supposed "boy".
Similar story the Philip Scofield.
I still haven't seen where it was said that the person was a "boy". Not doubting it, but haven't seen it.
From the linked article:
The four claims made against the presenter
It's been five days since the Sun published its first story about the BBC presenter.
Here's a quick summary of the four sets of allegations:
- On Friday, the Sun's first story is published about the mother's claims that a BBC presenter paid their child tens of thousands of pounds for explicit photos over three years. The paper quoted the mother as saying the young person used the money to fund a crack cocaine habit, and that she was worried her child could "wind up dead". The lawyer representing the young person has since disputed the allegations, describing them as rubbish".
- On Tuesday afternoon, the BBC reports that a second young person had made allegations claiming the presenter pressured them to meet up and then sent abusive messages when they hinted at revealing their identity
- Last night, the Sun reports fresh claims from a 23-year-old who claimed that the presenter broke lockdown rules to meet them during the pandemic in February 2021 and sent them cash
- Separately, the Sun publishes messages allegedly sent to a 17-year-old after a conversation was initiated on Instagram in October 2018
No mention of boy, man, just young person.
Also, even if it is a man I'm not seeing the homophobia, just sounds like a factual statement. They are or they aren't.
I only heard 'young person' on the coverage
The stench of homophobia hanging around this story
You what? Was there a new twist I missed?
The Sun... that virtuous newspaper that used to pay 16 year old girls to leave school so they could pose naked for Page 3... made it clear this was a male "star" and a boy. It's a re-run of the Phillip Scofield nonsense. This wouldn't be front page of all the papers and radio stations if it was an older man and a teenage young woman. Sure, they'll be some coverage but not as much as this homophobic stuff
Oh I totally missed that. I thought the story was that he paid a girl for explicit photos. Not a boy.
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@tenebrisnox @Flax_vert The plot is by groups including the newspaper proprietors.
(Other plots are also available)
I'm not sure its homophobia, but people are noticing ANOTHER BBC presenter taking advantage of their position of power.
There's no suggestion that he abused his position in the BBC over younger colleagues, is there? Or are you suggesting that any relationship between an older and younger person is immoral in some way?
There is:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66165766
There are also accusations of inappropriate behaviour to BBC staff:
We'll see. At the start of the week the allegations surrounding the story were that this was a "youngster" and that Edwards had acted illegally.
Meanwhile... the UK economy is collapsing and the media's barely covering it.
Hysteria
I loved the way the story came through on my phone in breaking alerts in less than five minutes.
1: Police are taking no action 2: Wife says it's my hubby Hew. 3: Wife says, he's needing unwell and in hospital.
So are his news reading days over?
So are his news reading days over?
Difficult to say. If the mucky photos the teenager was laid to send him took place after their 18th birthday, if the threatening messages he sent on social media weren't too sinister and if nothing else emerges now his name is well-known, he might be able to weather the storm and spin it as a redemption narrative then he might get a documentary out of it that'd clean his name up enough that he could be back behind the desk.
if nothing else emerges now his name is well-known
The BBC has reported that Huw Edwards is facing “yet more allegations of inappropriate behaviour” this evening.
The new accusations are that he behaved inappropriately towards colleagues at the BBC.
We'll have to see how that shakes out.
He resigned, didn't he?
No. It was reported that he had but that was retracted later on.
So far the police have said that nothing illegal has taken place. But I think he'll probably be too unwell and his reputation will be too harmed to do any work for some time
Plus like you say if there is anything else that hasn't come to light yet that might change things
I think he’ll probably be too unwell and his reputation will be too harmed to do any work for some time
Yeah, for now, the important thing is that he gets better and that the BBC box off their investigations swiftly (although with more people coming forward it could take a while).
My grandfather was gay at, being born into a time and place where he couldn't be himself, it took a toll on his mental health and it needed a crisis for him to finally get the help he needed. Hopefully, all of this means Huw Edwards can too.
If he's not acted illegally then what should he fear? His private life is his own.
Shame that the same witch-hunting standards aren't adopted by the press when it comes to our former PM. Is that 9 children or as many as 14? (It's ok though because Boris is a red hot-blooded "man's man").
If he’s not acted illegally then what should he fear? His private life is his own.
It kind of depends on the details. Also with a well-paid and high-profile figure like himself there may be a disrepute clause in his contract and, while he may not have acted illegally, the BBC may well decide that they have been muddied by their association with him.
Shame that the same witch-hunting standards aren’t adopted by the press when it comes to our former PM. Is that 9 children or as many as 14?
I feel there are many sticks to beat BoJo with and his sexual shenanigans isn't one of the largest and weightiest of them.
How about we beat him with the "Where the fuck is your phone?" stick?
That'll do for starters - the "You lied about Brexit, you chancer!" stick is large enough to kill him, so save it for later.
If that happens, then give it a year and he'll take up Jon Snow's position as head anchor of Channel 4 News. Not sure if Krishnan Guru-Murthy ever got Un-suspended for his on air comments, I'm a bit out of the loop.
Or there's always Sky or c5...
Oh quite possibly, unless these complaints from inside the BBC stick. He may be a nightmare to work with and I imagine most channels won't take the risk.
Yeah, he may get turfed out then, like Clarkson did. Funny thing is I don't think Amazon prime video have a news outfit at the moment. Maybe a times radio online-exclusive podcast. That would be unfortunate. I'm forseeing a real 'rise and fall of' situation here.
And like Clarkson, if someone thinks there's money to be made, there'll be chequebooks opening as long as he's not done anything too heinous. That said, Clarkson had made himself a marketable brand while Huw Edwards is just another old white guy reading of an autocue, admittedly one with a mellifluous voice. He just seems more replaceable, possibly with someone younger who might add a bit of diversity to the line-up.
I think silver-haired white guy has been on-brand for professional autocue readers though. That is changing a little bit, but I think it's the majority - at least until the grandfathered contracts run out (the likes of Huw, Eamonn Holmes etc) and the Beeb, Sky and ITV diversify. I don't watch too much rolling news but I think the BBC at least are already doing this with their news output.
The police have concluded, finally, that nothing illegal took place.
So it's down to whether people are that bothered that he paid for mucky photos or said not nice things to someone online. I think the latter isn't even going to move the needle.. but the first, could potentially be career ending, depending on the actual details.
I think we'll have to wait and see how the new allegations shake out and it's likely his being named will make more people come forward.
I definitely think his career is over - I can’t see his reputation ever recovering from this, even if he could overcome the shame and embarrassment of going in front of the camera again.
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