DJ Tim Westwood is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
The 64-year-old strenuously denies the claims but has been hit with a number of claims by women who say he abused his position in the music industry to exploit them.
The former BBC Radio 1 star has been accused of predatory and unwanted sexual behaviour and touching and the incidents span a time between 1992 and 2017.
The BBC and the Guardian both say they have heard “detailed accounts” from seven women in a joint investigation.
Westwood has been hit by allegations from seven women. The alleged victims say they met Westwood through his work.
Westwood was an early champion of hip-hop in the UK and hosted the first nationally-broadcast rap show on UK radio from 1994.
The Guardian is reporting three women have accused the DJ of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour, while four others allege they were groped by him at events.
They are carrying a quote from a woman who said: “Someone taking advantage of my naivety and lack of confidence isn’t something that I should have to carry with shame.”
A spokesperson for Westwood said they were completely false and denied in their entirety.
The women decided to tell their stories in the aftermath of anonymous allegations of inappropriate behaviour about Westwood circulating on social media in June 2020.
The Guardian and BBC have spoken to the seven women behind the allegations, who make a range of separate claims about the DJ’s conduct.
They report some of the women, who are all black, felt they wouldn’t be taken seriously so never reported their alleged experiences.
The three women who accuse him of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour feared racial discrimination would lead to their claims bot being listened to, as well as their age, as they were 17, 19 and 20 at the time of the alleged incidents.
A further four women claim the DJ groped them while they were having a picture taken with him after one of his nightclub performances.
The Guardian and BBC say they know the identities of all the women, who are not known to each other and have never spoken.
None of the women had reported their interactions to the police and all have asked to remain anonymous.
Some of them accuse the DJ of abusing his power within the music industry. The women tell their stories in a BBC Three documentary, Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power, which airs on BBC Three at 9pm on Tuesday.
Westwood started hosting BBC Radio 1’s first Rap Show in 1994.
He regularly attracted some of the world’s biggest stars – from Public Enemy to Jay-Z – on to his show.
He soon became a key figure in black music in the UK and was named best DJ at the Mobo (Music of Black Origin) awards multiple times.
He left left Radio 1 after 20 years, as part of a shake-up of its Saturday night schedule.
He now hosts a show on Capital Xtra as well as regular club nights.
Westwood also presented the MTV UK show Pimp My Ride UK.
Lawyers acting for Westwood said he was a well-respected and highly successful DJ. They said he strenuously denied in their entirety the serious allegations being made against him.
“Any suggestion that he acts, or has acted, in the way described would be false and seriously defamatory.”
They added he wanted to make clear that he did not behave in the manner described.
