EXCLUSIVE: Russell Brand co-hosted one of many BBC‘s flagship dwell tv occasions simply months after an worker re-filed a decade-old grievance about his conduct.
In March 2017, Model was handed a presenting position on BBC Studios-produced telethon Comedian Reduction, throughout which he launched new comedy acts in a bid to lift cash for charity.
The Comedian Reduction reserving got here after a BBC worker determined in 2016 to re-raise a grievance they initially made in 2007 about Model urinating in a cup in entrance of colleagues through the making of his Radio 2 present.
As a part of the grievance, the worker additionally raised broader issues about Model’s conduct, together with rumors that he would deliver “teams of ladies” to BBC premises. Model has at all times denied wrongdoing.
The revelation exhibits that the BBC missed repeated warnings about Model’s habits, that complaints weren’t confined to historic occasions, and that the problems had been a matter of dwell concern on condition that the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star was nonetheless being employed as a presenter by the company. The BBC has apologized for mishandling the complaints.
The 2016 grievance was disclosed for the primary time on Thursday in a BBC review of Brand’s conduct during his time working for the UK national broadcaster. The assessment was carried out by Peter Johnston, the BBC’s director of editorial complaints.
The worker in query initially raised their grievance in 2007 and, quickly after, the BBC admitted in a press release to a British newspaper that Model had urinated in a studio. Nothing was performed to analyze the staffer’s issues and no motion was taken towards Model, based on Johnston’s assessment.
The worker raised their issues for a second time to an exterior office tradition assessment in 2013 led by barrister Dinah Rose, although it’s unclear if the BBC was made conscious of this follow-up grievance.
The worker made their third grievance in 2016, per Johnston’s assessment. The BBC case supervisor who dealt with the grievance determined it was “not doable” to analyze the 2007 incident additional as a result of it will have “required chatting with people exterior to the BBC,” which was not regular apply.
The BBC apologized to the worker for the best way it dealt with their grievance in 2007. Quickly after, Model landed the Comedian Reduction presenting gig.
Johnston’s report doesn’t say if the BBC investigated the broader allegations raised by the worker, together with the declare that Model introduced women onto BBC premises. The assessment additionally fails to clarify if details about Model’s conduct was shared with executives concerned in commissioning content material and reserving presenters.
When Model was handed the internet hosting position on Comedian Reduction, Charlotte Moore, now the BBC’s chief content material officer, was finally accountable for BBC One. Tim Davie, the BBC’s director normal, was in control of BBC Studios, the manufacturing arm that produced the telethon. The BBC declined to say if Moore or Davie had been made conscious of the formal grievance in 2016.
Penis flashing incident
Johnston’s assessment additionally revealed that one other incident involving Model was raised with managers within the BBC Information division in 2019. An worker flagged {that a} lady, recognized as “Olivia” in Johnston’s report, had alleged that Model adopted her into a toilet and flashed his penis. The alleged incident passed off in 2008 on the BBC’s LA bureau.
The worker raised Olivia’s story with their line supervisor, who in flip escalated it to their very own boss. Johnston’s assessment stated it was unclear what occurred after this, however what is definite is that the data was not acted upon. Johnston apologized to Olivia, who was “disillusioned that nobody got here again to her in a passable manner.” He wrote in his report that he had heard the incident was usually “joked about” within the LA bureau.
After the 2019 grievance, Model continued to be booked on BBC exhibits. He appeared on the Joe Wicks Podcast, which was later faraway from the company’s streaming providers when the scandal about Model blew up in 2023.
Russell Model was a visitor on ‘The Joe Wicks Podcast’
A joint investigation by The Instances, The Sunday Instances, and Channel 4’s Dispatches revealed that 4 ladies had accused him of rape and sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013. Model, who declined to cooperate with Johnston’s assessment, has denied the allegations and stated his sexual relationships had been “completely at all times consensual.” He’s the topic of an ongoing police investigation.
The BBC declined to touch upon the truth that Model continued to look on its airwaves, regardless of the non-historical complaints about his habits. In a press release about Johnston’s assessment, the BBC stated: “It’s of nice concern that a few of these people felt unable to lift issues about Russell Model’s behaviour on the time, and the BBC has apologised to them. ”
Johnston’s assessment said that BBC employees felt Model was untouchable and so they feared nothing can be performed in the event that they complained. The 2016 and 2019 complaints, and his subsequent appearances on the BBC, not solely seem like proof of this, but in addition recommend that the BBC did not be taught the teachings of the Jimmy Savile disaster.
Barrister Rose’s 2013 office tradition assessment, arrange within the warmth of the Savile scandal, reached excoriating conclusions about BBC workers having a “weary” insecurity that justice will likely be served when elevating a grievance. In response, the BBC made a collection of commitments to enhance complaints dealing with, together with launching a helpline and toughening up freelancer contracts.
Deficiencies in BBC data sharing about non-editorial complaints was additionally a characteristic of the Huw Edwards scandal, when a grievance in regards to the information anchor paying a teen for indecent photographs was not properly escalated internally. Following a Deloitte assessment into the matter final 12 months, the BBC pledged to be extra joined up about dealing with misconduct complaints so they’re “escalated swiftly … and handled by the fitting individuals.”
