BBC says it will not air Ashley Cain’s Into the Danger Zone season 2

The forefronting of macho personas like Cain’s is cynical, and misses the reality of my generation’s experiencesBBC was aware of concerns over Ashley Cain’s ‘toxic masculinity’ onlineRecent weeks have not been good for Ashley Cain, the former footballer and now former presenter of BBC Three’s Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone. While he was once seen as a catch for a legacy broadcaster keen to win back the attention of young men, the Guardian brought to light a number of disturbing posts made by the presenter, describing women as “slags”, “sluts” and “bitches”, as well as tweets joking about hitting and choking women. Although the BBC has announced the axing of Cain’s show, and said that its vetting process “clearly failed”, new reporting in the Guardian shows concerns about Cain’s online comments were raised with the BBC last year.Questions remain about why nobody apparently thought to run a background check in the first place, and why concerns about Cain were apparently ignored. Cain’s attitude was not exactly a secret. After his football career, he appeared on Ex on the Beach and became known for seducing fellow contestants. Then he gained a big following on Snapchat for posting videos of himself having sex with women. In 2015 he denied accusations of capturing and sharing sexually explicit photos and videos of a woman without her consent. A scroll through his prolific and public social media profiles (“talcum powder pimp slap these bitches already!”) would have revealed several troubling statements. In an Instagram post he said, “I don’t deny it. I don’t excuse it.”Rohan Sathyamoorthy is a 20-year-old writer from south-west LondonDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Disclosure casts doubt on broadcaster’s claim that failure to properly vet presenter lay with independent production partnersThe BBC failed to investigate concerns about the presenter Ashley Cain that were raised with the broadcaster directly by an interviewee who was a victim of sexual violence.Last week, the Guardian reported that Cain, a former footballer and reality TV star, had a history of extreme misogyny on social media. Continue reading...

Last week, the former footballer, 35, was given the boot by the corporation as they admitted they had 'clearly failed' in their vetting of the star.

Last week, the former footballer, 35, was given the boot by the corporation as they admitted they had 'clearly failed' in their vetting of the star.

The Ex On The Beach star has come under fire after it emerged that he'd made social media posts calling women 's**gs', 's**ts' and 'psychos', on his X account, which has since been taken down.

The Ex On The Beach star has come under fire after it emerged that he'd made social media posts calling women 's**gs', 's**ts' and 'psychos', on his X account, which has since been taken down.