Founders who run world’s largest LGBT news website ‘PinkNews’ are accused by their staff for multiple incidents of sexual misconduct.
Reportedly, co-founders of UK based PinkNews Ben Cohen and Anthony James, both are accused of sexual misconduct.
Several former staff members claimed that they saw the director Anthony James at the company and his husband kissing and touching a junior colleague inappropriately who appeared too drunk to consent.
The alleged sexual misconduct incident happened outside a central London Pub, where the whole staff was invited after an official event of PinkNews.
As per the sources, over 30 current and former members of the staff has complained against the PinkNews bosses. They said that a culture of heavy drinking and partying at their office led to such instances and founded Benjamin Cohen and his husband Anthony James behaving inappropriately towards their younger male employees.
Court representatives for Mr. Cohen and Dr. James old the media that they were not able to provide a statement but they are sure that the allegations are false.
Noting the case, a former PinkNews staff member Gary, said that James had led the junior colleague behind a tree. He said that Anthony James was just forcing himself on somebody else who was not at all ready to make any decision for themselves because of how intoxicated they were.
The staff of PinkNews said that every week on Friday they would receive ‘free wine’ to boost morale and it was the heavy drinking culture that led to the alleged misconduct.
Another former staff member said that he personally experienced the inappropriate behaviour from Cohen during an evening at the pub after work.
He added, “Ben was extremely drunk to the point he fell off his chair and then asked me out of earshot of my other colleagues whether I wanted to go back as Anthony was not there.”
According to the staff people who have put the allegations, some female members out of them were also asked to be surrogate mothers for Cohen and James.
An anonymous staff member called them “Creepy and Sleazy” while another named it “Part and Parcel” of how “Misogynistic” PinkNews was.