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Daily Mail excusing away Gregg Wallace’s predatory behaviour is the tip of the iceberg

Thirteen people have accused Gregg Wallace of sexually inappropriate behaviour, spanning the last 17 years. Meanwhile, the corporate media’s attempts to excuse abusive men are becoming even more ridiculous, with the Mail Online quoting Wallace’s friends claiming his behaviour was due to undiagnosed autism.

Gregg Wallace: a disgusting sexual predator

An investigation by the BBC revealed that they were investigating Gregg Wallace after 13 allegations of ‘inappropriate sexual comments’ by 13 people who worked with him on various shows over 17 years.

Other allegations include:

  • Talking openly about his sex life.
  • Taking his top off in front of a female worker saying he wanted to “give her a fashion show”.
  • Telling a junior female colleague he wasn’t wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans.
  • Showing topless pictures of himself.
  • Asking for massages.
  • Saying he was fascinated by a female colleague dating women and asking for logistics of how it worked.
  • Staring at a woman’s chest.
  • Saying sexually explicit things on set.

The BBC concluded that:

many aspects of [Wallace’s] behaviour were both unacceptable and unprofessional.

Protecting the powerful

According to Mail Online, Wallace’s friends claim he has a “secret autism condition” but has never been diagnosed. His close friends say he has an inability to judge social situations and that he has a light filter when it comes to sex:

Gregg Wallace

Firsly, Mail Online, it’s called autism.

Secondly, it speaks volumes when your article, about a man who 13 different people have accused of sexual harassment, starts with an excuse for his shitty behaviour. Let’s make one thing clear, there are NO excuses for this type of behaviour.

How much longer are we going continue allowing the media to find every excuse under the sun for predatory men?

Thirdly, using autism as an excuse is quite frankly insulting to the millions of Autistic people across the world. Autistic people are actually far more likely to be on the receiving end of sexual offences than the general population.

Yet again, we are seeing the right-wing media continuing to excuse the actions of men – because what, they’re powerful?

Not everyone can speak up

Over the weekend, Wallace claimed the accusers were a “handful of middle-class women of certain age”.

Like everything else coming out of his mouth, this is problematic in several ways:

But what about the women who can’t afford to speak up?

Older, middle-class women can literally afford to speak out. Some of the accusers are fellow TV presenters and celebrities which means that they have the platforms, followings, and support to be able to speak out and not face as much backlash for doing so.

But what about the younger, working-class women who may just be starting out their careers and are too afraid of the repercussions from speaking up?

Speaking up costs women

This speaks to a much larger issue within society.

Speaking up often costs women.

Whether its financially from risking a job, to losing friends or colleagues, women often have to put everything on the line in order to speak up about abusive or predatory behaviour. Not only that, their characters and reputations are brought into question.

Meanwhile, we watch the right-wing media find any excuse necessary – in this instance, bringing up the possibility of Gregg Wallace being Autistic in the first paragraph of their article – to excuse men’s shitty behaviour.

Middle class women of a certain age? More like powerful men thinking, and knowing, for years that they can get away with disgusting behaviour. Abusive men don’t like women who see what’s going on.

Gregg Wallace: the top of the iceberg

Unsurprisingly, Wallace’s futile attempts to explain himself have only created more backlash. At least he’s digging his own grave though:

It’s quickly becoming clear that for years, the BBC has been the perfect hideout for abusive men. From coverups of Jimmy Saville and Stuart Hall, to Huw Edwards and now Gregg Wallace. This is yet another clusterfuck for the BBC.

As usual, men all over social media have jumped to defend him.

The Canary is taking bets on Reform announcing him as their next candidate. Or perhaps there’s a role for him in Trump’s team? Whatever the case, it is clear than men like him belong nowhere near TV, power, or women.

Feature image via 

By HG

This post was originally published on Canary.