The director general of the BBC has described sexual misconduct claims made against the former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood as “appalling”, and urged anyone with evidence to come forward.
Tim Davie, who was head of radio output at the BBC when Westwood was the voice of rap and hip-hop on Radio 1, called the allegations “shocking”, but said he had seen no evidence of complaints being made against the DJ at the BBC.
On Wednesday, two venues cancelled scheduled appearances by Westwood, after a number of women accused him of misusing his position in the music industry to take advantage of them, following a joint investigation into the former BBC Radio 1 DJ by the Guardian and BBC.
Westwood has strenuously denied all the allegations. A spokesperson said the claims were completely false and denied in their entirety.
Davie said: “It is shocking and the testimony of the women is powerful and appalling. I credit the BBC and Guardian teams for going after the story.”
Asked whether the BBC had any records of formal complaints about Westwood, he said: “I’ve seen no evidence of complaints. I’ve asked and we looked at our records and we’ve seen no evidence.
“Every complaint has to be taken seriously. If anything comes up we will investigate it fully. If people have evidence where things weren’t followed up or they have concern in this area bring it to us … we will follow up anything and we will dig and dig and dig. If people have got evidence of wrongdoing we need to bring it forward.”
Davie added that there was “nothing worse in life” than abuse of power. “It’s about values, setting the right culture and putting leaders in place. It’s completely unacceptable,” he said.
Global Radio has come under pressure to respond to the allegations of sexual misconduct made about Westwood, after three women accused the DJ of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour, while four others allege they were groped by him at events. The earliest alleged incident took place in 1992; the most recent in 2017. The women were in their late teens or early 20s when the incidents happened, they say.
The Guardian approached Global, the parent company of Capital Xtra, on Tuesday but 24 hours after the allegations surfaced the company had made no comment. It has not said if the DJ’s regular Saturday night show will go ahead as scheduled this Saturday.
Westwood was due to play at the Rum Rum nightclub in Birmingham on 1 May but the event has been cancelled, as has an appearance the DJ was scheduled to make at Butlin’s in Bognor Regis.
The UK hip-hop pioneer Cookie Pryce, a former member of the Cookie Crew and now a music industry executive, called on Global Radio to suspend Westwood while an investigation into the DJ’s behaviour was carried out.
“The horrific allegations that have surfaced means [Westwood] has questions to answer and he should be investigated,” she said. “[Global] should be investigating him. And they [Global] should be investigated.”
She said it was time for a “fair and open” conversation about Westwood’s standing in black music and culture. “Our culture, our music, our creativity, everything about us, has been appropriated for generations, and I just think people are very, very, tired. They are exhausted.”
