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Amidst the ongoing BBC presenter scandal, one of its leading broadcasters, Huw Edwards of the BBC Ten O’Clock News fame started trending on all social media platforms after speculation surrounding the presenter's identity ensued online.
The incident happened on Sunday, July 9, two days after The Sun published its report that a famous BBC male presenter paid 35,000 pounds over a period of three years to a teenager in exchange for s*xually explicit photos.
The youngster, in turn, allegedly spent the money on cocaine abuse.
Despite no name being officially released by BBC, The Sun, or the Metropolitan Police Department, social media has been rife with speculation owing to a recent on-air slip-up by BBC broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire.
On the night of Monday, July 11, Derbyshire supposedly made a slip-up while discussing the BBC presenter scandal during an episode of Newsnight.
On her way to explaining why BBC was choosing to not yet name the presenter, she said:
“We do know that the BBC is in the middle of another crisis and big questions are being asked again about who – who knew what, when, and why the corporation is on the back foot.”
The journalist repeating the word “who” twice and even stumbling on it before quickly correcting herself led netizens to speculate about Huw Edwards' alleged involvement in the BBC presenter scandal.
Following this controversial slip-up, internet users have yet again begun to speculate:
“I’m sure it’s completely Freudian!”: Victoria Derbyshire’s slip-up video on Huw Edwards sparks hilarious reactions online
Victoria Derbyshire dedicated her Monday’s Newsnight episode to the recent BBC presenter scandal.
She chose to explain why a number of questions remain unanswered and also why BBC is choosing not to name the household name of the alleged presenter. She began saying:
“I’ll be honest with you right now, we [the BBC] don’t know if the claims from the mother of the young person who accused the famous name of paying thousands of pounds to her child in exchange for s*xual photos are true.”
She further continued:
“Because, we – journalists who work at the BBC – haven’t seen any of the evidence The Sun says it has and we don’t know if the new claims tonight from lawyers representing the individual rubbishing what the mum has said are true either. BBC does not know the identity of that person and has not spoken directly to them.”
Right after this, she went on to slip up during the “who – who” statement and mentioned that this isn’t the first time BBC is in crisis, it has happened many times before.
As soon as this on-air slip-up video went viral, netizens started to speculate that the accidental slip-up was surrounding Huw Edwards as “who” sounds like Huw.
This is how Twitteratti reacted to the slip-up:
What’s interesting here is that, even though BBC has not yet revealed the name of the alleged presenter from the scandal, it has reportedly suspended him on Sunday.
Since then, several names have been doing the rounds, with social media speculation running amok.
On July 10, a lawyer representing the youngster at the core of the scandal however reportedly went on record to say that the claims made by their mother to The Sun were “rubbish” and “nothing inappropriate or unlawful” happened.
The lawyer also supposedly clarified how their client even allegedly sent a denial to The Sun before it published the news on Friday night, but the news outlet still went ahead with it.
The Sun responded to this by saying:
“We have reported a story about very concerned parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behavior of a presenter and the welfare of their child.”
The news outlet also added how the parents of the minor allegedly came to them as the BBC didn’t act fast enough on their complaint in mid-May.
The Sun further continued saying:
“We have seen evidence that supports their concerns. It’s now for the BBC to properly investigate.”
All you need to know about the BBC presenter scandal
The BBC presenter scandal arose last week on Friday when The Sun published a story on behalf of the victim’s mother.
Back in May, the mother allegedly complained directly to BBC management about how a male presenter has been exploiting her kid by giving them thousands of pounds in exchange for sharing s*xually graphic photos and performing indecent acts over video calls.
She also said that her child was 17 years old when the affair started in 2020.
When BBC failed to take any action against the said presenter, the parent allegedly went and told The Sun how she saw her child stripping their underpants for a senior BBC broadcaster.
She also apparently mentioned how that person was on air until July 5 and even attended a high-profile awards ceremony with his colleagues even after her complaint.
“I blame this BBC man for destroying my child’s life and taking my child’s innocence and handing over the money for crack cocaine that could kill my child,” she told The Sun.
The mother also clarified how she never wanted a formal investigation but rather wanted to put a stop to the offensive relationship between the BBC presenter and her kid.
But since BBC was allegedly “not acting fast enough on her allegations,” she apparently came to the press to address her concerns.
As of Wednesday, no name has been officially released. Besides the BBC, The Metropolitan police are also investigating the matter since last Friday, July 7 even though they haven’t received any formal complaint.
As conjecture continues to prevail online, it is to be noted that nothing concrete surrounding the BBC presenter's identity has been revealed as of now.
