Allegations mushroomed Wednesday against a star BBC presenter accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit pictures, as three more people came forward with complaints.
Fellow BBC star Jeremy Vine urged the presenter to publicly identify himself to prevent further reputational damage to the broadcaster and false accusations against others.
"I know his survival instinct has kicked in... but my God look at the damage to the BBC, look at the damage to his friends, to those falsely accused –- and the longer he leaves it the worse it will be for him," the radio show host said Wednesday on a television show he hosts for another channel.
Former BBC North America editor Jon Sopel, meanwhile, described the star at the centre of the scandal as "extremely angry" over how the story had unfolded.
"It is fair to say that the presenter at the heart of this is also extremely angry over a lot of The Sun coverage and is convinced they're trying to dig and find new dirt," Sopel said on LBC Radio's The News Agents podcast.
The BBC itself reported on Tuesday that another person in their 20s had come forward to say they received "threatening messages from the unnamed high-profile figure".
Hours later, The Sun daily -- which broke the original story last Friday -- alleged he also broke Covid lockdown rules to meet another young person he met on a dating site.
- 'Creepy' messages -
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