PinkNews founder and CEO Benjamin Cohen, and his husband, Dr Anthony James have issued a statement in response to allegations of sexual misconduct.
A BBC investigation saw over 30 staff members and former employees at the LGBT+ website accuse the pair of inappropriate behaviour towards staff. A further 10 people have since come forward following publication of the investigation’s claims.
Cohen and James have denied the allegations, calling them false, and have called the claims “false, inconsistent, and malicious”.
Among the accusations are that several staff members claim they saw James kissing and touching a junior colleague who appeared too drunk to consent.
In the report, another former staff member claimed that he was slapped on the rear by Cohen in front of people at a Christmas party, while another claimed to have been asked to go back to Cohen’s home because his husband wasn’t there.
Dr James was suspended from his part-time role as associate non-executive director at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust pending further investigation.
Although the BBC reported that the pair were unable to respond to the initial report due to an ongoing criminal investigation, James and Cohen have since broken their silence to accuse the broadcaster of misleading the public about the nature of their response.
“In August, we made a criminal complaint to the police in relation to alleged offences committed against us that are connected with these recent reports,” they said in a statement to the BBC.
“As we told the BBC prior to its initial broadcast, a police investigation was ongoing and we were advised not to make a comment.
“We are now aware that devices had been seized with forensic investigations continuing.”
It continued: “Despite the BBC being aware of the police investigation, it chose to broadcast and misled the public about our response. We have consulted lawyers in respect of these false, inconsistent and malicious allegations.
“We had explained to the BBC that the stage of the police investigation meant that it was not possible for us to comment on the specific allegations even though they were strenuously denied.”
