Furious Lorraine Kelly hits out in fiery rant about ‘toxic and nasty’ TV industry as she addresses Gregg Wallace scandal
LORRAINE Kelly has hit out in a fiery rant about the toxic and nasty TV industry.
Addressing the Gregg Wallace scandal, the Scottish TV presenter – who has been in the business for over 40 years – didn’t hold back when she slammed the “toxic and nasty” industry in which she works.
The 65-year-old defiantly said that there are “toxic people in telly” before saying: “We’re going through it at the moment.”
Lorraine also called out the “abuse of power” within the industry, as well as people who “enable” others to act in the ways that they do behind-the-scenes.
Speaking to The Mirror about the recent MasterChef scandal, Lorraine said: “The behaviour of Gregg Wallace and other people that we’ve seen, should it come about as all true, is appalling.
“There’s an imbalance of power there, and it’s abused. They’re just not right, and it should never happen.”
She then questioned the people around them and how they “enable them” to behave as they do.
“It’s horrible and it’s toxic and nasty,” she hit out, “I’ve got no time for people who abuse their power.”
Gregg made headlines at the end of November last year when he unexpectedly stepped down from his role as a host on MasterChef.
He stepped down from his role hosting the show and its various spin-off programmes after multiple complaints against him emerged.
He has been accused of making sexual remarks to 13 colleagues including BBC anchor Kirsty Wark. Gregg denies all accusations.
In a video he shared when the allegations were coming to light, Gregg claimed the women who made complaints about him were “middle class and of a certain age”.
‘IT’S NOT A CLASS THING AT ALL’
Lorraine said of this comment: “It’s not a class thing at all, don’t play that card, just don’t play that card.”
She added that if you make people feel uncomfortable, “It’s not 1972, I do understand that a lot of people might say, ‘It wasn’t that bad really,’ well it was, and it was a lot. It wasn’t just one person”.
At the time of the allegations involving Gregg coming to light, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “In recent days there has been concerning allegations made via the media about the alleged conduct of Gregg Wallace, many of which relate to shows made for the BBC.
INVESTIGATIONS INTO ALLEGATIONS
“These media stories are running alongside an independent investigation, which was instigated after formal complaints were made direct to the BBC and were referred to Banijay UK for further investigation.
Gregg Wallace - MasterChef scandal in Brief
GREGG Wallace has stepped down from his MasterChef hosting role after a probe into alleged inappropriate behaviour. But what's the situation?
Regular MasterChef host Gregg Wallace is currently the subject of a probe after an investigation was launched into his alleged misconduct over a number of years.
Gregg has been accused of making sexual remarks to 13 colleagues including Beeb anchor Kirsty Wark – accusations he denies.
The 60-year-old has now stepped away from the BBC show while historical misconduct allegations against him are investigated.
Yet the former greengrocer spoke out on social media to blast the “women of a certain age” who he claimed were behind the allegations.
The cooking show’s production company, Banijay UK, has said law firm Lewis Silkin would lead the investigation into Wallace’s alleged misconduct.
“We would like to thank those who have had the courage to speak out.
“We have always been clear that should people want to raise issues with the BBC, they will be taken very seriously.”
Bectu, the union who represents over 40,000 staff, contract and freelance workers in the media and entertainment industries, released a statement in December where they said that MasterChef would not come to an end amid the allegations.
When approached by The Sun, a spokesperson for Banijay told us: “I can confirm that the Bectu statement is correct,” with this confirming that the show would continue for four more years.