Richard Osman has released an apology to Gregg Wallace before the allegations came to light.
As of now, many women have come out against the MasterChef presenter, who allegedly has been engaging in inappropriate and ‘wrong’ behaviour in the workplace, particularly when it comes to making ‘sexualised’ jokes towards women.
Now that 13 women have come out in total to share their experiences, production company Banijay UK has launched an investigation into the matter.
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Osman, known for being a comedian, presenter and author, penned an apology which explained why he ‘stuck up for him’ in the first place.
The funny man went on to explore a situation where he believed that Wallace needed someone on his side, and he decided to be that person.
Of course, this was before the storm of allegations came to light.
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It was earlier this year that the MasterChef judge was featured in an article by the Daily Telegraph which saw him share his daily life.
According to Wallace, he prefers to take on a 'no sweat' workout, as well as hours of video games.
This revolution led to people mocking him on social media for being boring.
Speaking on his podcast, The Rest Is Entertainment on Wednesday 4 December, Osman shared: “If I can start with a Mea culpa, because a while ago we talked about him, because he had that boring ‘day in a life’, and I stuck up for him because I think being boring is fine.”
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He went on to say that he did ‘ask around’ about Wallace and found that 'any show he’s ever been on that I’ve been involved with, everyone had nice things to say about him’.
So, to him, at that time, he was thinking ‘oh no, absolutely, it’s fine’.
Osman has now come out to say that he had no idea about the allegations at the time of his defence.
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He shared that he 'hadn't heard stuff’, adding: “You think, God, you must always be so careful. I did think, ‘oh, he’s just a big personality, and I hadn’t heard stuff’.
“But now, listen, I definitively understand, I have heard stuff. I apologise for that.”
The former greengrocer had actually been investigated once before, which caused him to issue a statement.
But in light of the new allegations, Wallace stepped down from hosting the BBC cooking show and re-issued a statement, hitting out.
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One of those women was Lisa (not her real name), who worked on the BBC show, Eat Well for Less in 2015.
She revealed to the BBC that Wallace had 'touched her inappropriately' while filming in a supermarket, explaining: “He brushed past me at the checkout, and touched my bum with his waist and penis and laughed and said 'oooh you liked that didn't you'.”
To her, it was how he reacted that was shocking, as she reflected: “It was the way he reacted, other people would've said 'oh I'm sorry can I squeeze by' which would've been ok.”
As of now, the investigation is continuing against Wallace to get to the bottom of the allegations.
Topics: BBC, Gregg Wallace, UK News
Britt Jones