A British TV presenter and comedian has denied that he is the star at the centre of The Sun’s bombshell claims that a senior BBC presenter paid for sexually explicit images from a minor.
The publicly funded broadcaster has suspended the unnamed presenter after the tabloid newspaper claimed he paid £35,000 pounds ($67,000) for sexually explicit photos of the boy back in 2020, when he was 17.
With the identity of the presenter not yet public and internet speculation rife, a a slew of high-profile BBC stars have since come forward to deny that they are the man at the centre of the claims.
In a hilarious video posted on his Instagram, Paddy McGuinness, who has presented popular shows such as Top Gear, slammed the media for lobbing a “grenade” out there and watching everybody “eat themselves on Twitter” to deny the claims.
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“I even saw a couple of kn*bheads say it was me! “he said indignantly.
To remove any doubt that it is, in fact him, McGuinness went on to say “There’s no way on God’s green earth, I’m paying £35K for A W*nk!”.
He would pay £35K “to sue someone for defamation of character”, however, he said.
“£35K to polish your trumpet! The mind boggles”.
The plot has further thickened, however, with a lawyer representing the young person now dismissing the claims as “rubbish”, adding that nothing inappropriate happened.
The Sun published the story after it was contacted by the boy’s parents who said that their son was now addicted to crack cocaine after being paid for sexual images by the BBC star.
The mother said her child had gone from “a happy-go-lucky youngster to a ghost-like crack addict” in just three years.
Despite the boy’s denial, The Sun defended its decision to publish the story saying it “reported a story about two very concerned parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and the welfare of their child”.
“Their complaint was not acted upon by the BBC. We have seen evidence that supports their concerns. It’s now for the BBC to properly investigate,” it said.
The BBC put out a statement on Sunday saying it “first became aware of a complaint in May,” but that “new allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature”.
