BBC’s Alan Yentob Resigns Over Charity Scandal

LONDON: Long-time BBC exec Alan Yentob is stepping down from his current role as the corporation’s creative director amidst a financial scandal involving his Kids Company charity.

Yentob, who has been with the BBC for nearly five decades, will stand down at the end of this year. He will nonetheless continue to focus on TV production and will remain chairman of BBC Films.

“The BBC is going through particularly challenging times and I have come to believe that the speculation about Kids Company and the media coverage revolving around my role is proving a serious distraction,” Yentob said in a statement. “So I have spoken to [BBC Director-General] Tony Hall and told him that I think it best that I step down from my senior management role as creative director at the end of this year and focus on program making and TV production—including, of course, the Imagine series.”

He added: “I love the BBC and will continue to do everything I can to ensure that it thrives and fulfills the great expectations we all have of it.”

Hall said in a statement: “Alan is a towering figure in television, the arts, and a creative force for good for Britain. He has served the BBC with distinction in a number of different executive roles, all of which have been characterized by his energy, creativity and commitment to public service. He has an extraordinary roll call of achievement.”

British charity Kids Company, which was co-run by Yentob, collapsed over the summer following claims of financial mismanagement. Allegations later surfaced that the BBC exec tried to influence the corporation’s coverage of the scandal.

“For the record, BBC News considered whether Alan Yentob had influenced the BBC’s journalism on the reporting of Kids Company,” Hall said. “They concluded that he did not. Despite that, I understand his reasons for stepping down as creative director. He has been thinking about this carefully for some time and we have discussed it privately on a number of occasions.

“I am pleased that Alan will be continuing his brilliant work as a program maker at the BBC in the future.”