BBC Radio 1 DJ ‘strongly denies’ sexual misconduct
TIM WESTWOOD, the hip hop DJ, has been accused of sexual misconduct towards multiple women while he was a star name at BBC Radio 1.
The women, all in their late teens or early 20s when the alleged behaviour took place, said they did not talk about their experiences at the time because they feared they would not be believed.
Westwood “strenuously denies” any inappropriate behaviour.
The BBC said it was “shocked” to hear the allegations, which surfaced in an investigation by its own BBC News team, and are included in a new BBC Three documentary, Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power.
The BBC has no plans to investigate the matter internally, despite the women accusing Westwood of abusing his position as a famous BBC DJ. Some said they agreed to meet him because they believed he wanted to discuss their music careers, before he allegedly engaged them in sexual activity.
Others alleged that he groped them during nightclub appearances where he was performing DJ sets.
BBC News journalists had to send a Freedom of Information request to their own employer in order to find out whether the corporation had received any complaints during Westwood’s time at Radio 1. He was a BBC DJ from 1994-2013, and the allegations span the years 1992-2017.
The BBC replied saying that it could “neither confirm nor deny whether the BBC holds the information”. Last night it updated that statement and said: “We don’t hold information that is helpful for this investigation.”
Westwood remains one of the biggest names in the British hip hop scene, although his street clothes and “urban” accent mask his origins.
He is the son of Bill Westwood, former Bishop of Peterborough, and was educated at the independent Norwich School.
The BBC News investigation, jointly conducted with The Guardian, features the claims of seven women. All are black, and say that they did not speak out at the time of the alleged encounters because they feared they would not be believed due to their age and their race.
They said that they came forward after allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Westwood began circulating on social media in 2020. The DJ denies any wrongdoing.