Comedian Frank Skinner has disclosed that he had a camera operator dismissed from his eponymous show after the man filmed up a female make-up artist's skirt. The incident occurred between 1995 and 2005 when the show aired on both BBC and ITV.
Skinner told The Sun that he found the woman crying in a room after the incident. “He thought it was funny to put the camera up a make-up woman’s skirt and it got big laughs in the studio. I wasn’t in the studio, but I found her crying in a room and she told me about it,” he said.
The comedian used his influence to demand the operator's removal, stating: “I asked around. And because I was a big-time comedian, I was able to say, ‘Well look, either he goes or I go’. I don’t want to get anyone sacked, but I did get him sacked.” He described the woman as “being bullied” and called the incident “horrible”.
Skinner did not involve the BBC or ITV but “dealt with it on the shop floor”. He commented on recent BBC scandals, saying it is “baffling” that “nobody has stepped in” before matters escalated.
The disclosure follows the sacking of Gregg Wallace from MasterChef after 45 allegations of misconduct were upheld against him. Co-host John Torode was also dismissed after a claim of using racist language, which he denies.
