According to reports, a junior staff member on The One Show was allegedly impressed by Jermaine Jenas’ celebrity status before reporting his supposed misconduct. The BBC let go of the presenter following allegations of inappropriate behaviour, and in a statement to OK! yesterday, a BBC spokesperson confirmed that he was no longer part of the channel’s presenting line up.
Jermaine maintains that there are “two sides to every story” and is seeking advice from his lawyers. Allegedly, the BBC started investigating after receiving a complaint about text messages sent by Jermaine last month; other female employees reportedly came forward after one woman complained about unsolicited messages.
Jermaine has been axed from The One Show (Image: BBC)
The Sun claims that a junior staff member raised concerns about alleged flirtatious texts. The publication claims the staff member “may have been impressed by his star quality” before raising concerns about the texts.
A source told The Sun: “The first complaint was raised after Jermaine flirtily messaged a female member of staff on The One Show, and she raised her misgivings in a formal capacity. The BBC knows it cannot now ignore concerns or complaints so after immediate routine enquiries the decision was taken to take him off air, and terminate his contract. They acted swiftly and decisively.”, reports the Mirror.
They added that “Jermaine’s conduct is absolutely nothing” like former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards and that there is “no suggestion of illegality”. BBC staff were stunned when Director of Sport Alex Kay-Jelski sent out a curt email at 3.39pm on Thursday, announcing: “I wanted to let you know that Jermaine Jenas is no longer working for the BBC.”
According to a source quoted in the Mirror, this message left no room for questions, stating it was “It was brutally short and to the point. It felt like there was no messing around.”
Jermaine’s exit was confirmed to BBC staff via an email (Image: Getty Images)
The source commented further, revealing: “The staff WhatsApps were suddenly abuzz with what was going on. There have been whispers that something was afoot but bosses had kept the investigation close to their chest. It’s a very sensitive landscape at the BBC at the moment with the various scandals that have beset it of late. Any hint of workplace misconduct and they needed to come down on like a ton of bricks.”
The team at The One Show, where Jermaine had worked since 2020, weren’t privy to any accusations until Thursday morning. Replying to the claims via a statement given to The Sun through a spokesperson, Jermaine expressed his frustration and intention to seek legal advice saying: “Right now I can’t talk about it. I can tell you I’m not happy – there are two sides to every story – and I’m going to be speaking with my lawyers on the issue.”
Despite the controversy surrounding his departure, Jermaine appeared on talksPORT’s Drivetime show as news of his sacking emerged on Thursday, staying on air throughout the programme.
He expressed his discontent with the situation on air, stating: “Like I said, I’m not happy about this situation. You know, I’m going to be speaking to my lawyers about it is all I can say right now.”
When questioned about whether the complaints involved multiple colleagues or if he was surprised by the allegations, he declined to respond. Following his departure from the talkSPORT studios, the star was seen having an intense phone conversation.
