Child sex abuser Jonathan King is back on the BBC: Outrage over plans to include disgraced DJ in documentary about Genesis
- Jonathan King will appear in film because of his 'role' in discovering Genesis
- He gave the band their first big break after being handed tape of their music
- In 2001, he was convicted of sex assaults on five teenage boys in the 1980s
- He was jailed for seven years but released on parole after three and a half
- BBC under fire for using King in film, with some saying it is 'inappropriate'
The BBC sparked outrage last night over plans to include convicted sex offender Jonathan King in a documentary about rock band Genesis.
The disgraced music impresario – who still refuses to apologise to his victims despite spending three and a half years in jail – will be interviewed on BBC2 about his role in the band’s early days.
The decision to give him a platform on national TV was immediately criticised by MPs and campaigners.
Disgraced Jonathan King (above) – who still refuses to apologise to his victims despite spending three and a half years in jail for his abuse crimes – will be interviewed on BBC2 in a documentary about rock band Genesis
Tory MP Rob Wilson, who said it was ‘astonishing’ the corporation was not more sensitive to victims in the wake of a string of sex abuse scandals involving high-profile presenters.
He added: ‘After everything that has happened, you would have thought the BBC would steer clear of convicted paedophiles.
'There is little doubt this will upset King’s victims and further tarnish the reputation of the BBC.’
King, 69, is a former chart-topping star and TV producer who worked on BBC shows No Limits and The great British Song Contest.
In 2001, he was convicted of sexual assault on five teenage boys in the 1980s. He was given a seven-year jail sentence and was released on parole in 2005.
King has consistently denied the crimes for which he has convicted and refused to apologise to the victims. In 2012, he said: ‘The only apology I have is to say that I was good at seduction. I was good at making myself seem attractive when I wasn’t very attractive at all.’
Despite his lack of repentance, King will feature in the new BBC2 film Genesis Together And Apart, which screens on October 4.
He gave the band their first big break after he was handed a tape of their music recorded while they were pupils at Charterhouse school.
The 69-year-old is a former chart-topping star and TV producer who worked on BBC shows No Limits and The great British Song Contest. He regularly appeared on Top of the Pops (above) with 'It only takes a minute'
King will feature in the new BBC2 film Genesis Together And Apart, because of his 'significant role' in putting the band (pictured) together. He gave the band their first big break after he was handed a tape of their music
In the interview, he says: ‘I was a successful pop star - the first act on the London Top Of The Pops show - and of course I went back to Charterhouse in glory in my little Austin Healey Sprite and one of the kids at Charterhouse rushed up to me with a grubby cassette tape, which I still have to this day and said “Ah, this is the school group, listen to it”.
‘I got in touch with them and said ‘I really like the sound of you, I’d like to produce you’ and they said “Yes please”. I gave them the name Genesis because for me that was the start of my production career.
‘I’m not very good with really good creative artists. I’m actually better with people just doing as I say because it’s my work of art I want to do.’
King did not receive an appearance fee from the BBC, but campaigners said it was wrong to allow him to rehabilitate his image on television.
Pippa Smith, of campaign group Safermedia, said: ‘This seems completely inappropriate. It sends out all the wrong messages and shows how broadcasters are out of touch with the real world and have not learned the lessons of Savile.’
King (pictured leaving Staines Magistrates' Court in 2000) was convicted of sexual assault on five teenage boys
It is not the first time the BBC has been criticised over King.
In 2011, then BBC director general Mark Thompson apologised to the disgraced star after he was cut from a repeat of a 1976 spisode of Top Of The Pops, on which he performed It Only Takes A Minute.
After King complained the decision to cut him was a ‘Stalinist revision of history’, Mr Thompson said the omission ‘should not have happened’, adding: ‘We would like to apologise for any upset this caused.’
The BBC’s decision to include King in the documentary conflicts with its policy on former DJ Jimmy Savile. It has a policy of removing all archive footage of Savile ‘where the material is likely to cause offence to his victims’ and removed his Desert Island Discs interview from its archive.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘As Jonathan King played a significant role in discovering Genesis during their early years he appears briefly in the documentary.'
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