The BBC has an unfortunate history of employing men who rape and sexually assault children. What’s even worse is that many have accused the BBC of failing to stop such individuals, with the organisation itself reporting:
The BBC missed opportunities to stop “monstrous” abuse by DJ Jimmy Savile and broadcaster Stuart Hall because of a “culture of fear”, a report says.
Given this, you’d think the BBC would do everything it could to avoid looking it’s siding with sexual abusers – alleged or otherwise.
Well, it turns out you’d have thought wrong:
"Did you refer to a member of the Royal Family as something I'm not sure we're allowed to say on Sunday morning?" asks #BBCLauraK
"I'm not making any comment on what somebody suggests was said in a book" Deputy PM Angela Rayner responds
https://t.co/AgNCCk4hVl pic.twitter.com/XwqOD9FsSL— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) February 9, 2025
BBC: the nonce in question
In the interview, Kuenssberg said to Angela Rayner:
Now I’m gonna ask you this question, and you might want to bat it away the same way you did the last one. Did you refer to a member of the royal family as something I’m not sure we’re allowed to say on a Sunday morning? But in case we can bleep it out, did you. … deny that you called a member of the Royal Family a nonce?
‘Do you deny that you called a member of the Royal Family a nonce’ – that’s one hell of a way to introduce this topic. For those out of the loop, the member of the Royal Family in question is prince Andrew – the one who’s famous for allegedly abusing a child – the one who many in the country think of as ‘the nonce’.
The reason the topic is coming up now is that a new book reports Labour Party deputy PM Rayner saying the following, as the Independent reported on 3 February:
Angela Rayner described Prince Andrew as “that n****” and tried to prevent him from being eligible to deputise for King Charles over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, a new book has claimed.
The deputy prime minister reportedly contacted Buckingham Palace and senior civil servants in a bid to remove the disgraced Duke of York from a list of royals who could step in for the King if he is abroad or incapacitated.
If you didn’t know already, prince Andrew was indeed linked to the notorious international paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. You might not know that, of course, as Kuenssberg didn’t establish that; she didn’t even name prince Andrew; she simply asked ‘did you call a member of the Royal Family a nonce’, as if it was another gotcha – as if the Royal Family should be spared of such insults even when very clear accusations exist.
And speaking of the accusations, let’s do what Kuenssberg didn’t and actually discuss them.
‘What is Prince Andrew accused of?’
The BBC are fully aware of what Andrew was accused of, because the following quote is from a BBC article:
In court documents, Virginia Giuffre says she was the victim of sex trafficking and abuse by Jeffrey Epstein from the age of 16.
Part of her abuse involved being lent out to other powerful men – including Prince Andrew, she alleges.
Ms Giuffre says the duke sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was under the age of 18.
The first time was in 2001 in London. In a 2019 interview with the BBC, she said she was introduced to Prince Andrew by Epstein and his then-girlfriend, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who took them to a nightclub.
Ms Giuffre recounts being told by Ms Maxwell as a 17-year-old that she had to “do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey”.
Later that evening she says she had sex with the duke upstairs at Ms Maxwell’s house in Belgravia.
On the second occasion, it is alleged that Prince Andrew abused Ms Giuffre in Epstein’s mansion in New York.
And she says the duke abused her a third time on Epstein’s private island, Little St James, in the US Virgin Islands.
Ms Giuffre says in the court documents that she was forced into sex by explicit or implicit threats and because she feared the powerful connections, wealth and authority of Epstein, Ms Maxwell and Prince Andrew.
She says the duke knew her age and that she was a sex-trafficking victim.
Oh, and let’s not forget that prince Andrew also took part in a disastrous BBC interview in which he attempted to discredit the claims against him. Here’s how the BBC discussed that interview in September 2024:
Emily Maitlis says the Duke of York “lost the respect of the nation” after her infamous Newsnight interview with him, but warned that Jeffrey Epstein’s victims didn’t get closure.
“I think there is unfinished business,” the journalist told BBC News. “It isn’t some nice, neat ending.”
The 2019 interview, widely viewed as a “car-crash”, saw Prince Andrew talk candidly to Maitlis about his friendship with convicted sex offender Epstein.
It is now the subject of a new three-part drama, A Very Royal Scandal, starring Ruth Wilson as Maitlis and Michael Sheen as Andrew.
The BBC interview did huge damage to Andrew’s reputation and is seen by many as greatly contributing to his downfall.
Days after it, the duke announced he was stepping back from royal duties, saying the Epstein scandal had become a “major disruption” to the Royal Family.
As reported by – you guessed it – the BBC, prince Andrew settled the accusations against him out of court:
The out-of-court settlement accepted no liability and Prince Andrew has always strongly rejected claims of wrongdoing.
But the prince agreed to pay an unspecified amount to Ms Giuffre and to her charity for victims’ rights.
He also said he “never intended to malign Ms Giuffre’s character” and he recognised she had “suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks”.
The duke also pledged to “demonstrate his regret for his association” with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In the wake of the claims, Prince Andrew lost military titles and royal patronages as well as the use of the title His Royal Highness.
So Andrew admitted she was a victim of abuse; he just paid through the nose to avoid a court case which might have got to the bottom of who abused her.
The establishment defending itself
Many criticised Kuenssberg’s line of questioning:
#bbclaurak Angela Rayner saying a particular member of the Royal family is a nonce just reflects what 99% of the British public, and many members of his own family, think.
— 🇺🇦 Prof Tarquin Thunderpenus, Uni of Facebook (@BillBillBill06) February 9, 2025
Wait, people are seriously complaining that Angela Rayner called Prince Andrew a nonce?
Because, you know… he is.
— sarah (@sarahlicity) February 9, 2025
Calling Prince Andrew a nonce should be a vote winner, no need to hide away on this one https://t.co/AQWNV4oWVV
— Martin Robinson (@Trivium21c) February 9, 2025
Some pointed out that Peter Mandelson – a Labour lord and diplomat – also had connections to Jeffrey Epstein:
‘One day I want to grow up to be best friends with a famous nonce too’ pic.twitter.com/Qlesmlns0w
— raceyemu (@raceyemu) February 8, 2025
The BBC doesn’t learn
Given what happened with Jimmy Saville (and Stewart Hall, and Rolf Harris, and Huw Edwards, and Russell Brand), you’d think that the BBC would tread carefully when it comes to alleged sexual abusers. You can’t do what Kuenssberg did without giving the impression that calling Andrew a “nonce” is worse than him allegedly being a nonce.
In the end, Rayner refused to say if she called him a nonce, but we know she must have done because everyone else in the country has.
Featured image via the BBC
