Tim Westwood has stepped down from his Capital Xtra show after nine years following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
The 64-year-old was yesterday accused of initiating unwanted sex by three women, while four others allege he groped their bottoms or breasts at events, reports the Guardian and BBC.
The earliest alleged incident dates back to 1992, while the most recent came in 2017. Three of the women, aged 17, 19 and 20 at the time, describe a pattern of alleged ‘opportunist and predatory sexual behaviour’ after agreeing to meet with him.
Westwood was today removed from two of the bank holiday weekend events that he had been due to appear at in the wake of the sexual misconduct allegations.
The DJ, who is not married, has strenuously denied all claims.
A spokesperson for Westwood told MailOnline: ‘Tim Westwood strongly denies all allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
‘In a career that has spanned 40 years, there have never been any complaints made against him officially or unofficially. Tim Westwood strongly rejects all allegations of wrongdoing.’
Westwood became a household name after hosting shows on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra for 19 years, and had presented a weekly hip hop show on Capital Xtra since 2013.
A spokesperson for Global, the firm which owns Capital Xtra, told MailOnline: ‘Following the claims that have recently come to light, Tim Westwood has stepped down from his show until further notice.’
Tim Westwood has stepped down from his Capital Xtra show after nine years following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct
The events page of Tim Westwood’s official website was removed after the allegations of sexual misconduct came to light. His bank holiday events in Bognor Regis, Birmingham and Bedford have all been cancelled
It is claimed the first alleged incident took place in 1992, while the most recent came in 2017.
One woman who claims her breast was grabbed by the veteran DJ in 2000 said she was left feeling ‘cold and dirty’ after the alleged incident.
Another of the women described how she ‘froze’ and felt ‘very intimated’ after Westwood allegedly said ‘lemme grab some ass’, before putting his hand down the back of her shorts after meeting the girl at a club in Ayia Napa, Cyprus in 2009.
Three others, aged 17, 19 and 20 at the time, describe a pattern of alleged ‘opportunist and predatory sexual behaviour’ after agreeing to meet with him.
Two of them, who had aspirations of working within the music industry, claim they agreed to meet Westwood in London to discuss music, before he ‘initiated unwanted and unexpected sex’ that left them feeling ‘completely powerless’ and ‘scared’.
A further four women say Westwood groped them while posing for a picture with him after his nightclub performances.
The DJ has said he did not behave in the manner described and said all of the allegations were false.
Tim Westwood urges a woman to keep her top off at an event filmed for his YouTube channel shown on the BBC’s Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power documentary last night
On one occasion he also cuddled a woman while looking down her top and asking: ‘I like your rack – is it real?’
On another occasion he held on to a woman’s arm having told her she was beautiful while backstage at a festival
Rap star Cardi B asked him on one occasion: ‘Do you have sex with a lot of black girls’, to which he replied: Not as much as I’d like’ in an interview where he was accused of being inappropriate
It comes as resurfaced footage revealed the chilling moment Tim Westwood urged a fan to stay in her bra as he ogled her on stage during a new documentary where the DJ was accused of groping black women at gigs.
The 64-year-old son of the former Bishop of Peterborough was filmed cat-calling a woman as she scrambled to cover up as he shouted from the decks: ‘Yo baby you don’t have to put your top back on’.
The footage was unearthed for last night’s BBC3 film Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power, where he is also caught clutching a woman while looking down her top and asking: ‘I like your rack – is it real?’.
The documentary also shows him refusing to let go of a woman’s arm after he apparently whispered something sexual in her ear while backstage at a festival.
And another clip shows Westwood interviewing rapper Cardi B during a 2017 interview for Capital FM.
The American artist asks him: ‘Do you have sex with a lot of like, you know, black girls?’ Westwood replied after a pause: ‘Not as much as I’d like to’ in an interview where he was accused of being inappropriate towards the star.
Westwood, who denies all claims made by seven women and described the allegations as false, is accused of using his position as a BBC DJ and MOBO winner to grope black women and even force some to have sex with them.
Bank holiday events in Birmingham and Bognor Regis that the veteran hip hop DJ had been due to appear at were all cancelled and women’s safety campaign groups had all hit out at Westwood in the wake of the allegations.
Andrea Simon, Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition told MailOnline: ‘We stand in solidarity with the Black women who have come forward with their story of sexual violence from Tim Westwood.
‘This is a horrifying abuse of power in an industry that is rife with racism, sexism and misogyny.
‘No survivor should have to fear reporting sexual violence because they may not be believed.
‘But the reality is that this is a daily experience for Black women and all who experience racial discrimination in a justice system that is so badly stacked against survivors.
‘This goes beyond the police and justice system, through to the media, music industry and all institutions where we see no accountability because of cultures of silence and impunity.
‘We will not accept this, because this is not the way it has to be. We demand justice and change.’
The women, who do not know one another, were aged in their late teens or early 20s when they claim they were set upon by the former Radio 1 star.
Each have provided their own claims in the wake of anonymous sexual misconduct allegations levelled against Westwood on social media two years ago.
One accuser claims Westwood drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53.
She told the BBC she felt ‘completely powerless’ and ‘very, very scared’ when he allegedly exposed his genitals to her in a car’.
Another woman, who was 17 at the time, alleges Westwood, then aged in his mid-thirties, also subjected her to unwanted sex.
Using the alias Tamara, she claimed the encounter took place after giving Westwood a demo of her own work while she was a member of an R&B group.
‘Within the recording industry and the black community, despite him being a white man, he had absolute power. He could make or break your career’, she said.
But once they arrived at a London flat, she claims Westwood, without saying anything, pulled down her trousers and underwear before performing oral sex on her.
One accuser claims Westwood drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53. He has denied all of the women’s claims
Westwood, pictured above in 2005, is at the centre of a sexual misconduct storm after allegations were levelled against him in recent years
One woman, using the pseudonym Isabel, alleges she was 19 and the DJ was 53 when he exposed his genitals to her in a car.
Isabel told the BBC that upon entering a flat in London, a naked Westwood entered the room with a drink in hand. He was allegedly holding a condom and initiated sex with her while she remained ‘frozen’.
Another woman was in her 20s when she told the BBC she met Westwood after reassuring her mother that it was work experience to help the DJ connect with a younger audience.
She claims when Westwood picked her up in a large American-style vehicle he started touching her inappropriately before his ‘erratic driving’ was picked up on by a police officer.
Later, in a London flat, she claims the DJ sat next to her and tried kissing her before they had sex. She claims the work experience he offered never materialised.
Other women claim Westwood groped them during photo shoots with the celebrity after his shows. One said she was aged 22, and Westwood 59, when he ‘moved his hand up the back of her skirt’ at a New Year’s Day event in London in 2017.
The women, whose identities have been anonymised, shared their accounts in a new BBC Three documentary, Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power which aired yesterday.
A statement released by the BBC in response to Westwood’s allegations said: ‘The BBC is against all forms of inappropriate behaviour and we are shocked to hear of these allegations. The BBC has strict codes of conduct for all those engaged by the BBC, including on-air presenters.’
BBC director general Tim Davie said the allegations levelled against the DJ are ‘shocking’, but added he has seen ‘no evidence of complaints’ from Westwood’s near two decades at the corporation.
Asked at the Voice Of The Listener & Viewer spring conference about the possibility that complaints to the BBC about Westwood were ignored due to a lack of diversity, Davie said of the documentary: ‘It is shocking, and the testimony of the women is powerful and appalling.
‘By the way, I credit the BBC and Guardian teams for going after the story. I think that that’s absolutely what we should be doing.
‘I’ve seen no evidence of complaints. I’ve asked and we looked at our records and we’ve seen no evidence.’
The allegations are likely to further rock the music industry after hundreds of musicians spoke out about their struggles with bullying and harassment in 2021.
X Factor star Rebecca Ferguson previously demanded a parliamentary inquiry into the music industry and called for greater regulation to protect artists from ‘bullying’ agents and managers.
She said that she had been sexually harassed by a music executive and, in a series of tweets, claimed she knew two women who had been raped and others who had been driven close to suicide by the industry.
Westwood, son of the former Bishop of Peterborough, is a well known figure on the hip hop scene.
He began his career with local radio before joining Capital Radio in London and was later given his own show by BBC Radio 1.
Westwood is considered among the most influential rap and hip hop DJ in Europe and is a winner of numerous radio industry awards, including best radio DJ in the Music of Black Origin ceremony.
In 1999 he was the victim of a drive by shooting in south London after leaving a concert.
Two men on a motorbike pulled up alongside his Range Rover and fired several shots. Westwood suffered an arm injury and later said the attack was part of an extortion attempt by a gang.
In 2020, Westwood was forced to deny involvement in similar allegations when the hashtag #survivingTimWestwood appeared on Twitter.
Westwood’s name and the allegations began trending on Twitter after an unnamed woman posted messages describing a four year relationship.
Using the Twitter name @survivingtimwestwood she admitted she was in love with the DJ and had not gone to police with any of her allegations.
Others responding to the Twitter messages called on bosses at Global Radio, where Westwood works for Capital Xtra, to investigate his behaviour towards young black women.
The renowned DJ vehemently denied sensational allegations on social media that he has behaved inappropriately with student fans.
In October 2013, Westwood was condemned by students for a ‘vulgar and sexist’ stage show he put on during a Fresher’s event at the University of Leicester.
While performing as guest DJ at the O2 Academy he was heard shouting over the microphone: ‘Girl in the front row with the black dress on, I will be f****** you later.’
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